Jimmy Kimmel went all-in on the newly released tape of Michael Cohen and Donald Trump discussing a hush payment to Playboy playmate Karen McDougal on Wednesday night. And while he didn’t want to dwell on whether or not the president suggested making the payment in “cash,” he did want to talk about how insane it is that a story like this is not a bigger scandal for the man occupying the Oval Office.
“Really for any other president, a tape like this, on which we hear his voice, his married voice, suggesting that his lawyer pay a Playboy bunny $150,000 in cash to keep her quiet,” Kimmel told his audience, “for any other president, there would be an address to the nation tonight.”
Any other president would “apologize to his wife, his family, possibly Jesus, I don’t know, we might even have to get Barbara Walters involved,” the host added. “But for this president, there’s no statement. For him, it’s just Wednesday.”
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Instead of apologizing, Trump lashed out at Cohen on Twitter, tweeting, “What kind of a lawyer would tape a client? So sad! Is this a first, never heard of it before? Why was the tape so abruptly terminated (cut) while I was presumably saying positive things? I hear there are other clients and many reporters that are taped - can this be so? Too bad!”
“What kind of lawyer would tape a client?” Kimmel asked. “I have the answer: a not-too-bright, shady, double-dealing lawyer—who was hired by an even shadier, even double-dealier and not-too-bright man. The kind of lawyer you hired, and employed, for more than 10 years!”
“What makes the tape such a big deal is that it proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Trump knew about the payments to Karen McDougal,” Kimmel said. “Which means that when he said he had no knowledge of this transaction, he lied. And you know what that means. If he lied, it means we have to lock Hillary up!”
Referring back to The New York Times story that reported on the president’s “rage” over First Lady Melania Trump watching a network other than Fox News on Air Force One, Kimmel added, “Anyway, this is why he doesn’t want Melania watching CNN.”
