John Oliver has covered the president's myriad scandals for months, but even he was stunned Donald Jr. would tweet out evidence the Trump campaign attempted to collude with the Russian government last summer.
"We called this whole looming scandal—way back in March—we came up with this framing device for it: 'Stupid Watergate,'" Oliver told "Late Night" host Stephen Colbert on Wednesday. "The idea that it's something with all of the gravitas of Watergate, but where everyone involved is stupid and bad at everything."
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"And unfortunately," he added. "It was supposed to be a self-contained joke. But current events are making it more and more relevant, which is not normally how jokes work."
"When Trump, Jr. tweeted his emails yesterday—without a gun to his head—the first one said, 'This is part of Russia, and it's government support for Donald Trump,' what was your immediate reaction?" Colbert asked his guest.
"Probably 'wow,'" Oliver admitted. "Followed by the idea [that] this is something, as long as we live in a world where something means anything. And I'm not sure we do any more."
Oliver noted that on its surface, the situation "seems serious," but so have countless other Trump revelations. Both hosts agreed a heavily partisan divide has become the new normal. But what Oliver found most amazing was Trump Jr.'s complete confidence no harm would come to him or his father.
"Saying this is nothing," Oliver mused, "I can't even fathom how his lawyer must've felt."
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Rep. Matt Gaetz seemed to confuse cable news networks during a Thursday appearance
Gaetz was interviewed by CNN's Chris Cuomo, who aggressively challenged Gaetz on the facts as the Florida Republican attempted to defend President Donald Trump.
Despite the fact Cuomo's interview was nothing like the puff segments Gaetz is used to on Fox, the congressman seemed confused by the end.
"Congressman, you are always welcome, wherever I am, at nine or eleven, whenever," Cuomo said.
"Thanks Sean," Gaetz replied.
"Did you just call me Sean?" Cuomo asked. "Did you just call me Sean?"
On Thursday, the Sacramento Beereported that California Assemblyman Chad Mayes, the former Assembly Minority Leader, is leaving the Republican Party and registering as No Party Preference.
"Instead of focusing on solutions for the big problems that we've got, we focused on winning elections," said Mayes in his announcement. "For me, I'm at the point in my life where I'm done with gamesmanship."
Mayes, a controversial figure who was implicated in an affair with a fellow public official, represents Yucca Valley. He is the second Republican Assemblyman this year to leave the party, after Brian Maienschein of San Diego, who Maienschein of San Diego.
Authorities in Columbus, Ohio evacuated dozens of homes after a man called 911 to report being burned by a
"Firefighters say nothing threatening was found in a northwest Columbus garage," WCMH-TV reported. "According to firefighters, a man called and reported that he received ‘RF burns’ while building some sort of ‘quantum physics generator’ in a garage. The man used words like ‘particle accelerator,’ ‘alpha rays,’ and ‘radiation’ while describing how he was burned."