For all the time Seth Meyers spends making fun of Donald Trump on “Late Night,” he says his main goal is to put on a good show — not to topple the president.
Not that he would mind toppling the president.
“Look, based on how this is going, if he should end up out of office it seems like it will be a lot more based on the decisions he’s making than the decisions we’re making. The wounds on Trump are a lot more self-inflicted than comedy-inflicted,” Meyers told TheWrap in a recent interview. (Watch the video of our Q&A above.)<
When we pointed out that painting Trump as thin-skinned or incompetent — as Meyers has tried repeatedly to do — could weaken him politically and make him more susceptible to investigation or even impeachment, Meyers demurred again.
“Once comedy gets important it stops being funny,” he explained. “We think what we’re talking about is important, but we try to do it in a way that’s entertaining first and foremost. If people tuned in every night and said, ‘Oh, what I like about this show is its stated goal is to get this man out of office’ — that’s not our stated goal. Our stated goal is to sort of process what happened in the course of the last 24 hours, and hopefully give it to you in a way you enjoy.”
Nevertheless, we persisted. If Trump left office, would Meyers consider it a nice bonus?
“Look, it would be … Sure,” he finally said. “I’ll take that as a bonus.”
Trump Scandals: Every Investigation Facing the White House So Far (Photos)
From the get-go, Donald Trump's presidency has been loaded up with scandals that have enraged his Democrat opponents and challenged the willingness of Beltway Republicans to stand by him. The growing pile of federal investigations and news reports reached a boiling point with Trump's firing of James Comey. In case you can't keep everything straight, here's what's happened so far and who in Trump's circle is being investigated.
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Paul Manafort: Trump's former campaign chair is currently being investigated as part of the FBI's look into potential connections between Trump's campaign and Russia's attempt to sway the presidential election. The Justice Department has subpoenaed Manafort's bank records to look for potential payments that he might have received from Russia during the campaign.
Carter Page: The Washington Post reported in April that the FBI had obtained a warrant to monitor Trump's former campaign adviser as part of their Russia investigation. A dossier compiled by a former British intelligence officer and cited by House Dem Adam Schiff claimed that Page had met with Russian business executives linked to Putin during a visit to Moscow in July 2016.
Michael Flynn: A retired three-star general, Flynn was selected as Trump's first national security adviser before he was fired in February. The dismissal came after it was discovered Flynn lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his interactions with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. The scandal surrounding Flynn deepened after the House Oversight Committee said they had reason to believe Flynn received payments from the Russian and Turkish governments.
Conflicts of Interest: Since winning the election, ethics experts have criticized Trump for failing to provide a sufficient plan for addressing conflicts of interest between his presidency and his many business interests, whom he has handed over to his sons, Donald and Eric. The White House also faced criticism when senior adviser Kellyanne Conway promoted Ivanka Trump's merchandise on Fox News. The State Department also deleted a blog post promoting Trump's Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. Trump has at least one lawsuit claiming he has violated the Emoluments Clause, which forbids the president from receiving foreign money through his businesses, something POTUS' critics say he can do by having foreign officials stay at his hotels.
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Russia Oval Office Visit:The Washington Post reported that Trump disclosed a highly classified intelligence to Russian officials during a White House visit, handing over a source that provided the U.S. with information on ISIS. The disclosure has reportedly frustrated the intelligence community, with whom the president has established a tense relationship.
Jeff Sessions: After admitting he had not disclosed meetings with a Russian ambassador during the election to Congress, the former Alabama senator and current Attorney General recused himself from any investigations into Trump-Russia connections. After Comey's firing, 11 Senate Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren, asked the Justice Dept. to investigate whether Sessions had violated his recusal pledge after Trump announced he had consulted Sessions on firing the FBI director.
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James Comey: The former FBI Director Comey has claimed that Trump asked to end the bureau's investigation into Michael Flynn in private meetings that have raised concerns about possible obstruction of justice -- especially since the president's team gave conflicting accounts of the reasoning for Comey's dismissal in May.
The first four months of Trump’s presidency have been loaded with scandal
From the get-go, Donald Trump's presidency has been loaded up with scandals that have enraged his Democrat opponents and challenged the willingness of Beltway Republicans to stand by him. The growing pile of federal investigations and news reports reached a boiling point with Trump's firing of James Comey. In case you can't keep everything straight, here's what's happened so far and who in Trump's circle is being investigated.
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From NBC
