Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial came to an early end on Saturday and, of course, “SNL” tackled that in the cold open this week. But the sketch show also came back to the topic during Weekend Update, where impeachment was the lead subject.
“Well, like so many other men living in Florida, Donald Trump has once again escaped from justice,” “SNL” Weekend Update co-host Colin Jost said.
“This has to be the dumbest trial I’ve ever seen. Here’s how dumb it was: the jurors who were deciding the case were the ones attacked by the defender; the trial took place at the scene of the crime; and then right after the trial ended, one of the jurors who voted to acquit Trump ran out and said, ‘Someone’s gotta prosecute this guy. He did it. This man belongs in jail!’” That last bit referring to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Jost then put things in perspective for former vice president Mike Pence, who’s been on rocky terms with Trump since the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
“I mean, whatever you’re gonna do, if you’re gonna impeach a president for anything, don’t you think it’s sending a mob to kill the vice president? I feel bad for Pence — 43 of his work friends were like, ‘Oh, come on, Mike, they only tried to hang you. Stop being such a drama queen,’” Jost joked.
“I think it would be hilarious if Biden now sent rioters back into the Capitol. And he was like, ‘What, you guys said it was fine.’”
That’s when Weekend Update co-host and “SNL” co-head writer Michael Che chimed in.
“During Donald Trump’s impeachment, House managers showed security footage of Capitol rioters violently attacking police. But here’s a little Black history lesson for you: just because there’s video evidence doesn’t mean you’re gonna get a conviction,” Che said, referring to the many examples of police murdering unarmed Black people and then being acquitted or not even charged with a crime.
Jost jumped back in to express more incredulity about the whole deal.
“Video evidence of the violence on Jan. 6 showed that Senator Mitt Romney and Vice President Pence both had close calls with rioters. So let me get this straight: you’re a white supremacist mob and you go after these guys, the two whitest guys I could think of? They make me look like Ice-T,” Jost quipped.
You can watch this portion of this week’s “SNL” Weekend Update in the video embedded up at the top of this article.