Two themes the late night comedians have tried to hammer away at recently are that President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, Matt Gaetz, is a sex pest and that Trump himself is a threat to the rule of law who has been emboldened by the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling. Therefore, the worst possible guest they could interview would be former President Bill Clinton, but that is exactly what CBS’s Stephen Colbert did on Tuesday’s installment of The Late Show.
First, Colbert had to let Clinton know that he is a fan, “Sir, it's a pleasure to see you again. I've had a chance to talk to you a few times over the years, and the last time we saw each other was on stage at Radio City for a massive fundraiser for Joe Biden's re-election campaign, and that didn't continue, but it was an amazing night. Did you have a good time that night?”
After Clinton affirmed that he did, Colbert agreed, “Yeah, me too. I thought I would be, like, before I went on stage, everyone’s like, ‘You're going to go interview three presidents. It’s going to be the sitting president, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton. How are you feeling?’ And I’m like, ‘I'm fine, you know, I've talked to all three of these guys before. We’ve had a good time together before, and it wasn't until I was sitting on stage in front of 4,000 people and the three of you gentlemen in front of me that I went, ‘Holy [bleep].’”
Further along in the interview, Colbert wondered, “The Supreme Court, since you left, has said that the president enjoys broad immunity for his actions. If you had known that when you were in office, is there anything you would have changed? Would someone really wanted to have started Newt Gingrich's car for him or anything like that? Was there anything you would've done differently with that freedom of knowing that if you do it, it must be legal?”
Bill Clinton committed and was impeached for perjury, so a better question would have been: did lying to Kenneth Starr about Monica Lewinsky constitute an official presidential act?
Instead, Clinton warned that the Court has basically suspended the Constitution and the rule of law, “Well, let me just say that opinion, in my opinion, should be repealed or drastically confined. Drastically. And if you want it changed, you probably just have to elect somebody else in the next election and the Supreme Court will change it so fast it will make your head swing. I'm pretty sure that if something really grievous happened, the Supreme Court would make a different distinction; otherwise, our Constitution has essentially been suspended and we wouldn't have a rule of law.”
When he was president, Clinton unsuccessfully argued that the Secret Service should not have to testify about the Lewinsky affair, “I think [the ruling] will raise some serious questions and present a whole new array of problems for managing the presidency and for the Secret Service managing their responsibility.”
Apparently, Clinton wants one set of rules for himself and another for Trump.
Here is a transcript for the November 19-taped show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
11/20/2024
12:05 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: Sir, it's a pleasure to see you again. I've had a chance to talk to you a few times over the years, and the last time we saw each other was on stage at Radio City for a massive fundraiser for Joe Biden's re-election campaign, and that didn't continue, but it was an amazing night. Did you have a good time that night?
BILL CLINTON: I did.
COLBERT: Yeah, me too. I thought I would be, like, before I went on stage, everyone’s like, “You're going to go interview three presidents. It’s going to be the sitting president, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton. How are you feeling?” And I’m like, “I'm fine, you know, I've talked to all three of these guys before. We’ve had a good time together before," and it wasn't until I was sitting on stage in front of 4,000 people and the three of you gentlemen in front of me that I went, "Holy [bleep]."
CLINTON: You did fine.
…
COLBERT: The Supreme Court, since you left, has said that the president enjoys broad immunity for his actions. If you had known that when you were in office, is there anything you would have changed? Would someone really wanted to have started Newt Gingrich's car for him or anything like that? Was there anything you would've done differently with that freedom of knowing that if you do it, it must be legal?
CLINTON: Well, let me just say that opinion, in my opinion, should be repealed or drastically confined. Drastically. And if you want it changed, you probably just have to elect somebody else in the next election and the Supreme Court will change it so fast it will make your head swing. I'm pretty sure that if something really grievous happened, the Supreme Court would make a different distinction; otherwise, our Constitution has essentially been suspended and we wouldn't have a rule of law.
You know, I was raised in the Baptist church and I believe in deathbed conversions. So I still think, you know, President Trump could be like Paul on the road to Tarsus and think how wonderful that would be. Really.
COLBERT: That would be lovely. That would be lovely.
