Stephen Colbert opened his last monologue before The Late Show goes on hiatus for the rest of the summer by taking one more victory lap over the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago.
Specifically, the host noticed a new pattern emerging in the way the former president’s biggest defenders have changed their tune over the past couple of days. “It started as ‘nothing to see here’ and quickly became ‘anything you see was put here by the FBI,’” he said. “And all the former president’s hench-folk have gobbled up the bait.”
After playing a montage of Trump allies spreading that conspiracy on conservative media, Colbert said, “You know that when you accuse someone of planting evidence before they say that they’ve even found anything? It’s when you know they’re going to find something.”
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“So how did the FBI agents supposedly bring in 12 boxes of evidence they took out?” he asked. “Ainsley Earhardt has a very stupid theory.”
The Fox & Friends co-host pointed out this week that the FBI agents arrived wearing backpacks, asking, “What was in those backpacks?”
“Good point, Ainsley!” Colbert replied. “Everyone knows, you get to search the cops before they search you. That’s why I always tell TSA, ‘Hold on, mister, first, I’m going to knuckle-bump your junk.’”
Later, the host explained that “in order to conduct the search, the FBI had to present a search warrant and in order to take anything away, they had to give the ex-prez an itemized receipt of everything they took.” And while Trump could release those documents and “the mystery and intrigue might be cleared up,” Colbert added, “evidently, he doesn’t want that, because as long as we don’t know anything, he’s free to say anything.”
That’s why Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Thursday that the Department of Justice had filed a motion to have those documents unsealed. “The ex-president has until tomorrow to file in court to stop that from happening,” Colbert said, “which would mark the first time he’s ever declined the offer of a full release.”
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