Late-night hosts on Thursday discussed Donald Trump’s lengthy phone interview with the hosts of Fox and Friends, and the scandals plaguing the White House physician Ronny Jackson, who withdrew his bid to be veterans affairs secretary on Thursday.
Stephen Colbert
“The big story is that, in his retrial today, Billy Cosby was found guilty of sexual assault,” Stephen Colbert began. “In the #MeToo era it is gratifying to see a sexual predator, however powerful or popular, finally brought to justice.
“But you can’t forget, there are still plenty at large,” Colbert added. “Speaking of which, Donald Trump called into Fox and Friends today.
“The interview started strong but then the president started talking,” the host said, showing numerous clips from the phone call, which began with Trump saying it was his wife Melania’s birthday. The Fox and Friends hosts then asked the president what he got her, to which he replied: “Maybe I didn’t get her so much. I got her a beautiful card.”
“You’re a billionaire!” Colbert said. “You got your wife a card? Do you know what she puts up with? I think she’s earned a shopping spree: I’m going to say around $130,000 worth.”
In more clips from the interview, Trump defended himself against allegations of collusion with Russia, saying nobody has been tougher on Russia than him. “You can ask President Putin about that,” Trump added.
“I didn’t rob that bank,” Colbert quipped. “Just ask my getaway driver!”
Finally, Colbert showed Trump touting his successes: “Nobody has done what I’ve been able to do, and I did it despite the fact that I have a phony cloud over my head,” Trump said, in an apparent reference to the Mueller investigation.
“Sir, that’s not a phony cloud,” Colbert joked. “That’s your hair.”
Trevor Noah
Comedy Central’s Trevor Noah focused on the White House doctor Ronny Jackson, who after being nominated to be VA secretary has been engulfed in scandal.
“You probably remember Ronny Jackson,” Noah began. “He’s the White House physician who came out in January and said that Trump has the strength of a hippo, and the body to match.
“We didn’t know much about him back then, and we didn’t need to, but once Trump nominated Jackson for a cabinet position people started digging into his past like he was dating Taylor Swift,” Noah joked. He then showed news coverage summarizing Jackson’s alleged indiscretions, which include giving large supplies of Percocet to a White House military office staff member and writing himself prescriptions, which earned Jackson the nickname “candy man”.
Dr. Ronny Jackson has withdrawn his nomination for VA secretary after allegations of alcohol and prescription drug issues surface: https://t.co/Cc6l6l6Le8 pic.twitter.com/9AkZR5Gf08
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) April 26, 2018
“The White House physician was being fast and loose with prescription drugs, which is really dangerous,” Noah said, adding that “distributing drugs like he was the Stringer Bell of Air Force One is just the beginning”.
Jackson also allegedly became intoxicated while on duty overseas, banging on the hotel room door of a female employee. In other reports it’s said that, at a secret service going away party, Jackson got drunk and wrecked a government vehicle.
Noah went on to note that the White House has, in defending Jackson, invoked his work for former president Obama. Kellyanne Conway, in a cable news interview, noted that Obama called Jackson an “exceptional” and “highly capable” physician.
“Now you want us to trust Obama?” Noah joked. “No, Kellyanne, no. Too late. That president invented Isis. You can’t have it both ways.”
Seth Meyers
Finally, NBC’s Seth Meyers covered Trump’s rambling interview with the hosts of Fox and Friends.
“It’s genuinely disorienting how many crazy things are happening right now,” Meyers began. “Just yesterday, President Trump tweeted a ‘thank you’ to Kanye West after Kanye tweeted that he and Trump are both ‘dragon energy’.”
“Isn’t that one of those shady bone pills they sell at convenience stores?” Meyers joked. “Donald Trump does not have dragon energy. Unless you mean draggin’ his fat ass around the golf course energy.”
Meyers moved on to Trump’s phone interview, saying the president “rambled on for so long about so many random topics that at one point the Fox and Friends hosts said they were the ones who were running out of time”.
The host showed various clips from the interview, in which Trump discusses Kanye West, Shania Twain, North Korea, “leakin’, lyin’ Comey”, his gripes with CNN, his relationship with Putin and the justice department.
Meyers continued: “The big news out of this interview had to do with Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen, whose office and home were raided by the FBI in their investigation into Stormy Daniels’ hush payment.
“First Trump defended Cohen while claiming he didn’t know anything about his business,” Meyers explained, airing audio of Trump insisting Cohen is just one of his many attorneys.
“You have so many attorneys and not one of them told you to keep your mouth shut?” Meyers asked. “Which one of them told you it was a good idea to call a TV show on three hours of sleep?”
