John Oliver mocked President Donald J. Trump for choosing to elevate one of his personal lawyers to indict former FBI Director James Comey, despite having zero prosecutorial experience.
Lindsey Halligan, appointed by Trump last week as interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, previously worked in insurance law and served as part of Trump’s defense on federal charges that he concealed classified documents.
Oliver called Halligan “significantly less qualified” than the man she replaced, Erik S. Siebert, who had reportedly refused to bring charges against Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
“It does make sense. When you bring a case against the former director of the FBI, you definitely want it to be the maiden voyage of an insurance lawyer,” Oliver cracked in his opening monologue Sunday on Last Week Tonight.
“But I will say, what she lacks in prosecutorial experience, she more than makes up for in random insurance facts and a s–tload of under-eye concealer,” he added. “And it is fine for me to say that, because a) one of the women on my staff wrote that joke—I am assuming—and b) it’s OK to make fun of a woman’s appearance again. That is why I voted for him.”
Ironic zingers aside, Oliver suggested Comey’s defense could prevail in court on grounds that Trump was “vindictive or selective” in siccing the Department of Justice against him. “Because again, not only did Trump openly call for Comey’s prosecution publicly, he’s been unable to shut the f— up about it since the indictment,” Oliver said.
Oliver claimed perhaps the most “blatant attempt of abuse of power” came when Trump posted what appeared to be a direct message to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Truth Social.
“It’s just embarrassing to post,” he said. “Pam, this is killing our reputation. Sounds less like a president and more like a head cheerleader texting a girl on the squad who just got bangs. What are you doing Pam? We don’t do bangs.”
“But the whole point of charging Comey may not be to even win the case, but to demonstrate to anyone who opposes Trump that there will be a price to pay for that,” Oliver concluded. “He’s essentially inverting our entire criminal justice process. Instead of identifying crimes and figuring out who did them, he seems to be identifying who he wants labeled as criminals and figuring out what crimes he can stick to them. It is bewildering, it is horrifying and it is honestly a little hard to sum up in words.”
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