When asked about the right of habeas corpus this week, President Trump tried to deflect the question over to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Seth Meyers warned him against doing so on Thursday night, though, reminding the president that she doesn’t know what the term means either.
During his “A Closer Look” segment, the NBC host zeroed in on a moment from Trump’s press conference on Wednesday. At the time, the president was asked whether he’s given more thought to suspending habeas corpus, to which Trump replied, “Suspending who?”
“‘And why would we suspend him? Don’t tell me he pulled the fire alarm again. Habeas!’” Meyers joked, impersonating Trump.
When the reporter repeated the question, Trump then tried to “punt” (at least in Meyers’ opinion) the question to Noem, saying he’d “rather leave that” to her.
“Hey, eyes on your own paper, Mr. Trump,” Meyers joked. “This isn’t ‘Millionaire,’ you can’t phone a friend. Also, if you could phone a friend, don’t pick Kristi. She doesn’t know what habeas corpus is, either.”
As proof, Meyers then played a clip of Noem from a hearing in May, in which she was asked for the definition of habeas corpus, and indeed, she got it wrong. Still, the late night host was pretty amused by Trump’s face when he got asked the question at all.
“Look at the panic in his eyes when he gets asked about it. He looks like a rabbit that just heard a hawk screeching,” Meyers said. “That’s a face you make when you know you should know what the other person is talking about, but you don’t know.”
You can watch Seth Meyers’ full “A Closer Look” segment in the video above.
