Late-night TV hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert both zeroed in on President Donald Trump’s controversial IRS settlement during their monologues Tuesday night. Each comedian portrayed the agreement as a staggering abuse of power.
On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Kimmel reminded viewers that Trump sued his own government earlier this year for $10 billion after someone at the IRS leaked tax returns President Trump had been promising to release to the public, dating back to his first bid for the White House.
Now, according to Kimmel, “both sides which were the same side” have reached a settlement that includes both an apology and a massive $1.76 billion fund that Trump can reportedly direct however he chooses.
Kimmel called the deal “the most brazenly corrupt move by any president ever." That's saying a lot, considering how many of the comedian's monologues have accused President Trump and his administration of something similar.
Meanwhile, over at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Colbert dedicated part of the show’s thrid-to-last episode to dismantling the same agreement piece by piece. Colbert described the settlement as Trump effectively giving himself “a taxpayer-fueled slush fund” without “any congressional or court approval.” Like Kimmel, he emphasized the surreal nature of Trump being “on both sides” of the legal battle.
Colbert referred to participants in the January 6 Capitol riot as one group of "lucky slushies" that could potentially benefit from the agreement. ut he quickly added that if fans were worried the rioters might actually receive the money, “they won’t because Trump’s gonna steal it all.”
The CBS host also mocked the supposed oversight structure attached to the settlement. Colbert said the five-person commission designed to monitor the fund would essentially amount to “five Marco Rubios,” suggesting the oversight would be meaningless.
“Surely this can’t get more corrupt?” Colbert asked before revealing that the agreement reportedly also prevents investigations into fraud or misuse of the money. That little detail was enough for the Late Show host to call it "an all-you-can-fraud buffet."
Colbert then capped off the segment by calling the arrangement “an unprecedented level of grift” and joking that Trump had “gave himself a get-out-of-jail-free card and a way better one than Jeffrey Epstein got.”
Colbert had to think he'd seen it all when it came to the president, but Donald Trump apparently had at least one more surprise for the outgoing late-night host. Perhaps it's fitting that one of Colbert's final monologues covered President Trump breaking norms and finding yet another "level of grift."
Meanwhile, Kimmel will have to pick up the slack after this week. Late Show fans may turn to the ABC host in hopes of someone making sense of what's going on in D.C. The good news is that Kimmel is more than up for the job.
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