On Thursday, The Washington Post published a bombshell report revealing that “in the final days before Donald Trump was sworn in as president, members of his inner circle pleaded with him to acknowledge publicly what U.S. intelligence agencies had already concluded—that Russia’s interference in the 2016 election was real.”
But President-elect Trump, as is his wont, “became agitated” and “scoffed at the suggestion that his candidacy had been propelled by forces other than his own strategy, message and charisma.”
“Donald Trump continues to deny any Russian interference in the 2016 election,” said Stephen Colbert on The Late Show Friday.
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As for his advisers trying to convince him of the interference, Colbert said, “Good luck. If you can get him to accept that Russia hacked the election, see if you can get him to accept who won the Civil War.” (Back in May, Trump asked, “Why was there the Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?” before suggesting that, had Andrew Jackson still been president, there would have been no Civil War.)
“Now, after Trump was told his own cabinet members had already backed the intelligence report, Trump shot back, ‘So what?’ Admitting that the Kremlin had hacked Democratic Party emails, he said, was a ‘trap,’” said Colbert, reading from the Post report.
The late-show host then threw to a clip of “Mitch McConnell”—or Star Wars’ Admiral Ackbar yelling, “It’s a trap!”
“And, nearly a year into his presidency, Trump has never convened a Cabinet-level meeting on Russian interference, or what to do about it,” explained Colbert, shaking his head.
Very curious.
