Jon Stewart praised “60 Minutes” correspondent Ross Douthat for pressing President Donald Trump on his family’s financial gains during his second term, commending the journalist for directly confronting the president over potential corruption.
The comedian reflected on the tense sit down between Douthat and Trump during Monday’s monologue for “The Daily Show,” where he applauded the “60 Minutes” correspondent for getting sassy with the president while asking about his finances.
“Was that sass?” Stewart said, after Douthat pointed out that the president’s own net worth had grown since taking office. “Did the new MAGA-fied CBS ’60 Minutes’ just deliver sass to Donald Trump? I think you’re supposed to ‘yes, and,’ not ‘yes, but.’”
The “Daily Show” editors then played another highlight from the interview, in which Trump tried to defend that “everyone’s” net worth has gone up in the last year-and-a-half, prompting Douthat to counter: “My net worth did not go up by $3 billion.”
“I think I’m going to enjoy this. I did not come into this interview thinking, ‘Uh, I’m going to enjoy this.’ But now, as I am watching this, I am thinking to myself, ‘I am going to enjoy this,’” Stewart said. “Let me prepare the table for the feast we are all about to enjoy. As regular viewers of our program know, Donald Trump has a somewhat high regard for his own financial acumen. In fact, not 20 minutes prior, in this very same interview we are watching, Donald Trump said this: ‘I’m really good at money and finances.’”
Stewart didn’t necessarily agree with this stance, quipping, “Best? Better than pool? Pool, renovation, finance and money? He’s better at money than pool.”
“My frustration with reporters is I wish someone would, like, hammer down on this,” Stewart continued. “Trump acts like he’s got all this money squirreled away in some index fund, and it just magically grew. Meanwhile, since the guy has returned to office, he’s made $125 million from foreign golf and real estate schemes, $117 million from legal settlements, $636 million from selling that bulls–t novelty meme coin. He’s gotten $800 million from his World Liberty Financial crypto company. Why can’t someone just bring this up to his face?”
Luckily for Stewart, Douthat did just that during the interview, confronting Trump over the fact that he’s a co-owner in his son’s cryptocurrency company.
“I think if I told you that story, and it was about the Biden family, if I said Joe Biden is the part-owner of a company and it has all of these investments from the Middle East, you would say that sounds corrupt,” Douthat said in the “60 Minutes” clip played on “The Daily Show.”
Stewart took a beat before responding, playfully making a series of delighted faces at the comment.
“I’ll have what he’s having,” he joked. “Woo! Oh my god! Ah! Man! First of all, I love that in the middle of that line of inquiry Trump is like, which– which son– which– which one of my sons runs this thing you brought [up]? Is it Lanky, Chinless, or New Guy? … And second of all, I love that Douthat is forcing Trump to compare himself to the Biden crime family.”
On Trump claiming in the interview that he knows “nothing about” his son’s business, Stewart erupted, “My god. Ross, you beautiful bearded bastard. Do you know what you’ve just done here? Do you have any idea what you just did here? You have made Donald Trump admit that the difference between him and Joe Biden is that Joe Biden is more aware of his surroundings. That’s what you did.”
A representative for the White House did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
“The Daily Show” airs weeknights at 11 p.m. ET on Comedy Central.
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