At the end of an extremely long day of impeachment hearings, Stephen Colbert kicked off his Late Show monologue by digging into the remarkable testimony of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman.
“Vindman came to the United States as a child when his father fled the Soviet Union and went on to enlist in the Army, where he received a Purple Heart for his service in Iraq,” Colbert explained. “Given his history, the only way Vindman could be more all-American is if he appeared in a Ken Burns documentary about the Statue of Liberty… which he did as a child.”
After playing the clip of a young Vindman telling his family’s story in the 1985 film, Colbert added in a comically childish voice, “And when I grow up I want to be in the Army and testify about the president’s corruption in Ukraine.”
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The host then aired the end of Vindman’s opening statement Tuesday morning in which he spoke directly to his father. “Dad, I’m sitting here today, in the U.S. Capitol talking to our elected professionals—is proof that you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the Soviet Union,” he said. “Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth.”
“That is beautiful,” Colbert said in response. “That’s moving and true. But you know it’s going to really enrage Trump, because it features his two least favorite things: immigrants and fathers who love their sons.”
Later, Vindman expressed his loyalty to the United States by declaring, “Here, right matters.”
“Thank you, lieutenant colonel,” Colbert said. “Yes, in America, right matters. You know, unless you’re one of the congressmen on the right, then not so much these days.”
