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Louise Thomas
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Stephen Colbert has pointed out a “weird word choice” in special counsel Jack Smith’s latest court filing regarding Donald Trump in the federal election interference case.
The 165-page dossier, which was unsealed by a federal judge in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, alleges that Trump intentionally lied to voters, election officials, and even his vice president in a “desperate” effort to cling to power. It marks the most detailed case laid out by prosecutors to date, coming after the Supreme Court ruling granted him some immunity from criminal prosecution.
The filing outlines how Trump allegedly repeatedly pressured Mike Pence to stop the certification of the election in President Joe Biden’s favor, against the will of American voters.
During last night’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the host singled out one line in the dossier in particular, zeroing in on Smith’s allegation that Trump had “resorted to crimes.”
“That’s pretty damning language, I gotta say, but kinda weird word choice to say Trump ‘resorted to crimes,’” joked Colbert on Thursday, October 3.
“That’s like saying, with nowhere else to turn, the bear resorted to pooping in the woods. It’s just what they do. And just a note, ‘resorted to crimes’ should not be confused with crime resort, another name for Mar-a-Lago.”
Colbert was not the only late-night host to discuss the dossier, with Jimmy Kimmel joking that it showed Pence was Trump’s “Baby Reindeer.”
“I knew Trump pressured Mike Pence to break the law. I just didn’t know how many times he did it,” Kimmel said in his opening monologue.
“There were meetings, phone calls, text messages. Pence was basically Trump’s ‘Baby Reindeer.’”
In the Netflix show Baby Reindeer, a former lawyer develops an unhealthy obsession with an aspiring comedian, which escalates into her becoming a fully-fledged stalker bombarding him with hundreds of messages.
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Kimmel went on to pull up a short extract from Smith’s filing surrounding an exchange between Trump and Pence from Christmas Day 2020.
“On December 25, when Pence called the defendant to wish him a merry Christmas, the defendant raised the certification and told Pence that he had discretion in his role as President of the Senate. Pence emphatically responded, ‘You know I don’t think I have the authority to change the outcome,” the host read out.
Irked by the excerpt, Kimmel continued: “Can you imagine calling a guy to wish him a merry Christmas, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah, whatever, I need you to commit some treason for me.’ It’s Christmas treason.”
Pence repeatedly told Trump that there was no evidence of fraud to alter the election’s outcome, according to prosecutors.
However, Trump ignored his vice president, and at a rally on January 6, 2021, urged his supporters to “fight like hell” to “stop the steal.”
His followers then stormed the US Capitol to try to overturn the election results.
Phone logs revealed in Smith’s filing show that once back at the Oval Office, Trump tweeted: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.”
While storming the Capitol, some rioters were heard chanting: “Hang Mike Pence.”
Smith’s filing alleges a staffer had told Trump that Pence needed to be evacuated from the Capitol.
Trump allegedly responded: “So what?”
“Pence was like, ‘Keep your head up,’ and Trump was like, ‘I’m gonna put your head up in a noose,’” Kimmel quipped. The late-night host said the court documents left him pondering whether Trump truly believes Biden stole the election.
“The answer is no he doesn’t,” Kimmel said.
“The plan all along was to declare himself as winner even if he wasn’t, which he did.”
