Late night hosts sweat new details on Trump's schemes to steal the election, wish Fox News a happy 25th

published 8 October 2021

"Earlier today Senate leaders agreed to a short-term debt ceiling increase!" Stephen Colbert cheered on Thursday's Late Show. "This means America will remain solvent and free from financial calamity — until Dec. 3." But "we almost didn't have a government to save," he added, turning to a new Senate report on former President Donald Trump's concerted attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

The Senate report details how close Trump came to firing acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and replacing him with his more pliant deputy, Jeffrey Clark. "So, on Jan. 3, Clark and Rosen went to the Oval Office for a meeting where the former president began that meeting with this snide comment: 'One thing we know is you, Rosen, aren't going to do anything to overturn the election' — that was his idea of a negative employee review," Colbert said. "But Rosen had an ace in the hole: If he was fired, the DOJ's leaders had agreed to resign," so Trump backed down. "He was worried one awful thing would be overshadowed by another awful thing," Colbert said. "Kind of like Don Jr. and Eric."

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"Trump really thought he could get away with throwing out the vote," Jimmy Kimmel said on Kimmel Live. "He's such a Karen, isn't he? 'Ah, let me speak to the attorney general! He won't? Well, does he have a supervisor? Put him on the phone!'" Meanwhile, "it's the 25th anniversary of Fox News today," he said. "That's right, Fox News is now old enough to rent a car, fill it with immigrants, and claim it's heading to your grandma's house to bury her alive."

At The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon circled back to the debt ceiling. "I tell you what I think: Just do what Netflix does and raise the ceiling a little bit each month so nobody notices," he suggested. "Some COVID news. A recent study found that after getting the Pfizer vaccine, women are protected longer than men. Yeah, the Pfizer vaccine is very helpful for women — so it's about a week before it gets banned in Texas."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.