Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel unpack Matt 'Gaetz Gaete,' lampoon his reported pardon fail
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Late night, meet "Gaetz-Gaete."
Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel waded into the situation surrounding Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, who was previously reported to be under an investigation by the Justice Department to see if he was in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and violated any sex trafficking laws. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.
"Speaking of awful things about to go away," Colbert cracked to kick off his Late Show segment on Wednesday.
The New York Times reported that, while Donald Trump was president, Gaetz sough to secure a "blanket pardon" but failed to do so.
"Oh, I don't think the blanket wants a pardon. I think it wants to be burned. It's seen too much," Colbert joked.
The CBS late-night personality, who frequently lampooned Trump during his presidency, noted how "shady" it is to think that "No. 45's lawyers" apparently saw Gaetz's pardon request and went, "No, that's a bad look."
"That's not suspicious," said the host of ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live. "You know you haven't done anything wrong when you check in with the president to ask for a pardon in case you happen to get accused of a sex crime somewhere down the line."
The Times also reported the pardon request was seen as a non-starter at the White House. To that, Kimmel remarked, "That's saying a lot considering Donald Trump once wanted to nuke a hurricane."
"The reason the White House denied the pre-emptive pardon for Matt Gaetz is because they thought it would set a bad precedent," Kimmel continued. "At the time, they were only interested in setting terrible precedents."
Watch the video above.
Check out our daily must-see picks — plus news, celeb interviews, trivia, and more — in EW's What to Watch podcast, hosted by Gerrad Hall.
Related content:
