“Late Night with Seth Meyers” returned on Monday after a week off, and Meyers trotted out a pretty epic edition of “A Closer Look” to celebrate, focusing largely on the mounting unease as Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and EPA chief Scott Pruitt face increasing scrutiny from federal investigators.
Meyers’ best zinger came at the end. Meyers looked at Donald Trump’s sketchy tweet thread from the weekend where he denied reports that folks in his inner circle are afraid that Cohen would flip on him if threatened with jail time, saying that he trusted Cohen’s loyalty. And also this: “Most people will flip if the government lets them out of trouble, even if it means lying or making up stories.”
“Of course Trump assumes most people would lie to get out of trouble because he’s always lying to get out of trouble,” Meyers said. “If the feds put pressure on him, there’s a good chance he’ll flip on himself.”
Earlier in the segment, Meyers was discussing the apparent fear some Republicans have of being identified as associating too closely with the legally fraught Trump at this point.
“It’s no wonder some Republicans are running for the exits and distancing themselves from the president as Trump threatens to drag them down in November. Statistically speaking, anyone who gets too close to Trump has a good chance of being raided by the FBI. First, the FBI raided Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. Then the FBI raided his personal attorney Michael Cohen. At this point, even the kid who mowed the White House lawn is worried the FBI is going to kick his door in,” Meyers joked.
“Of course, Cohen is the one who orchestrated Trump’s hush payment to Stormy Daniels through a shell company and is now being investigated for bank fraud, wire fraud, and federal campaign finance violations. Now, with the Cohen investigation intensifying, Trump and his allies are out in public doing what any innocent person would do, freaking out about whether Cohen is going to flip.”
Cue a montage of folks on TV news having that conversation, culminating with a friend of Cohen on MSNBC saying that Cohen told him that he’d “rather jump out of a building than turn on Donald Trump.”
“Think about how crazy this is. Michael Cohen isn’t saying Trump is innocent. He’s saying, ‘I would never rat him out.’ It’s just taken for granted that Trump did something illegal. Like if your wife asked your best friend about your guys weekend at Vegas and he said, ‘Hey, bros before hoes,’ ” Meyers joked.
“But Trump’s closest allies apparently aren’t so sure Cohen will stand by Trump. Trump’s longtime attorney and personal friend Jay Goldberg publicly warned last week that Cohen would turn on Trump. Goldberg told the Wall Street Journal that he spoke to Trump by phone and told him, ‘Mike will never stand up for you.’ Goldberg added that even hardened organized crime figures flip under pressure from the government. Quote, ‘The mob was broken by Sammy ‘The Bull’ Gravano caving in out of the prospect of a jail sentence.’ And if Sammy the Bull flipped, you know Michael the Bulls— definitely will.”
You can watch all of the “A Closer Look” segment from Monday night’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” in the video embedded at the top of this post.