On Tuesday, Donald Trump tried his best to undo the damage wrought by his disastrous joint press conference from Helsinki, Finland, following his closed-door meeting with Vladimir Putin. Criticism came swiftly and from all sides after the president sided with the Russian autocrat over his own intelligence agencies, saying he didnt “see any reason why it would be Russia” that meddled in the 2016 election. But as Trump backpedaled, he only seemed to get himself in more trouble, largely because his excuse—that he meant to say he didnt see any reason why Russia wouldnt interfere in the election—was thoroughly unconvincing.
Naturally, late-night comedians came prepared Tuesday with plenty of jokes to skewer the dubious explanation—and Jimmy Kimmel offered a pretty convincing theory as to who might have given Trump the idea for his disastrous fix.
“I bet it was Melania,” Kimmel said. “She hates him the most.”
Kimmel rolled a clip of Trump attempting to “clarify” his comments made in Helsinki, effectively denying everything hed said on camera just one day prior and claiming that hed actually meant the opposite. “Boy, I tell you, Papa John must be at home right now going, Wait! You can do that?! Because. . .” Kimmel quipped.
But perhaps the most comical moment of the admittedly bleak presser came when all the lights in the room cut out—just as the president claimed he had full confidence in U.S. intelligence agencies. “Have you ever seen the lights go out on a president before?” Kimmel said. “If that wasnt the work of God and Robert Mueller, I dont know what is.”
Meanwhile, on Late Show, Stephen Colbert was equally unconvinced by the presidents remarks—especially since, even as Trump tried to claim that he trusts his intelligence agencies, he added that election meddling could have been the work of “other people also. Theres a lot of people out there.”
“You either accept it was Russia or say it could be other people—you cant do both!” Colbert said, imagining Trumps wedding vows: “I, Donald, take you, Melania, to be my lawfully wedded wife. Although, I could also take other people, too; theres a lot of people out there.”
As for Trumps would/wouldnt clarification, Colbert scoffed, “Who among us hasnt said the exact opposite of what he just said in front of cameras on multiple occasions? Im sorry, that sentence should be, Who among us has not not done that.”
While the president corrected that one sentence from Mondays press conference, he did not revoke any of the other statements he made in Helsinki. As Colbert put it, “Of all the terrible words he said in that press conference, youre only taking back one of them? I meant to say wouldnt, O.K.? But that part where I was asked to condemn Putin but instead I improvised a surrealist slam poem about Hillary [Clintons] e-mail server? Nailed it.”
And then there was Trevor Noah, who, like Kimmel, couldnt hide his amusement at the fortuitous moment when the lights in the room shut off: “That was insane,” the comedian said. “Trump tried to claim that he believes the agencies, and then the lights went off. Its like even electricity is tired of Trumps bullshit.”
And as for Trumps claim that he meant to say “wouldnt” instead of “would”? “You know what, that makes sense,” Noah said. “I actually believe Trump on this, and I—Im sorry, let me check my notes. Oh, sorry, what I meant to say was, Get the fuck out of here, man.”
Perhaps the most amusing part of the presidents ex-post-facto editing of his own remarks was the moment when he acknowledged that the new version of his words contained a ”double negative”—one that, we should point out, is very clunky. On that point, Noah had to concede that Trump was right: “That was a double negative,” Noah said. “You fucked up yesterday, and you fucked up today.”
Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Laura BradleyLaura Bradley is a Hollywood writer for VanityFair.com.
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