Stephen Colbert on Tuesday celebrated former President Donald Trump’s arrest and first appearance in court as a criminal defendant.
“Once he finally arrived downtown at the courthouse, we heard these immortal words: ‘This moment at 1:24 p.m. Eastern time, Donald J. Trump is under arrest,’” said Colbert, using a CNN clip. “I know. It feels good, but remember, he is innocent until proven so, so guilty.”
“At that point, of course, he was read his Miranda rights,” Colbert continued. “Then, he claimed that Miranda wasn’t even his type, asked her to sign an NDA and got indicted again.”
Colbert then played footage of the moment that Trump, who pleaded not guilty to charges involving a $130,000 hush-money payoff to porn actor Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election, walked into court — and nobody held the door as it closed behind him.
“Wow, that’s kind of special,” said Colbert. “It’s not often you see a door hitting an ass on the way in.”
Colbert noted that pundits had predicted “an angry MAGA mob” would overwhelm the city protesting Trump’s arrest. But that didn’t happen, he said, pointing to an Intelligencer article that reported “there were so few pro-Trump protesters that reporters had to … line up to talk to them.”
“It’s never a good sign when there are fewer people at your current rally than are in prison for your last one,” joked Colbert.