John Oliver Says Mueller Report Shows Trump Team’s ‘Cartoonish Levels of Disorganization’ (Video)

“Last Week Tonight” host says “ignorance of basic legal concepts seems to have actively helped shield them from criminal liability”

John Oliver is among the many people who have spent hours poring over the contents of the Mueller Report since it was released last week and so he very appropriately devoted a long segment to its findings during Sunday’s “Last Week Tonight.”

The thing that floors the HBO late-night host the most about what was revealed by Robert Mueller and the special counsel is the “levels of disorganization and incompetence” within Donald Trump’s campaign that ended up shielding “them from criminal liability” in terms of conspiracy.

“And it wasn’t just [former Trump attorney Michael] Cohen,” Oliver said. “The report found multiple instances where people tied to the Russian government offered Trump’s campaign assistance and in some instances, the campaign was receptive. But the thing that seemed to stop closer coordination from happening was often cartoonish levels of disorganization and incompetence. On top of which, there were times when Trump’s team’s ignorance of basic legal concepts seems to have actively helped shield them from criminal liability. Most notably when it came to the infamous Trump Tower meeting featuring Don Jr., Jared, Paul Manafort and a Russian offering more dirt.”

Oliver cites Mueller’s team saying, it “would unlikely be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the … meeting participants had general knowledge that their conduct was unlawful.”

“So when it comes to conspiracy, Trump’s saving grace may have been that despite Russians wanting to help, everyone around him was too inept to work with them,” Oliver says.

The “Last Week Tonight” host then turned his attention to the “obstruction of justice” side of the report, saying that what saved Trump there might have been the fact that, “despite ample evidence that he tried to do it, everyone around him was too disobedient to listen.”

“Wow, the news that the president ordered subordinates to do things that might constitute obstruction and then they just ignored him is both reassuring and also terrifying,” Oliver said, in reference to the report’s findings that at least 10 current and former administration officials or associates did not carry out Trump’s orders to seize control of the inquiry into the Russia investigation.

One of the few things Oliver takes comfort in here is that the report revealed what Trump’s reaction was when he found out Mueller had been appointed.

“While we obviously don’t know whether Trump will face any repercussions from this report, I’d like to just live for a little longer in the moment of him saying ‘This is the end of my presidency. I’m f–ked.”

Watch the clip above.

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