Late-night guys are giddy with Trump and Epstein jokes after latest developments
When news broke early this week that Attorney General Pam Bondi had reportedly told President Donald Trump his name appears several times throughout the "files," the networks' evening comics, from Stephen Colbert to Jimmy Kimmel, were quick with the punchlines.
"You know how they say, 'There's no such thing as bad publicity'? They're not talkin' about this," Colbert quipped on CBS' "The Late Show" July 23.
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On Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," freshly minted host Josh Johnson also didn't pull any punches.
"You're best friends with a pedophile for 10 years one time, and the world never forgets it," he joked. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased financier charged with sex trafficking, were linked for many years in the New York social scene. The president has since disavowed Epstein, whose suicide in a New York jail prompted an onslaught of conspiracy theories. Trump once demanded a release of the records related to the case, but is now facing criticism from his supporters as he refuses to make them public.
"Trump already knew he was in the Epstein files. Which is a good reminder that if someone's acting guilty, they're probably guilty," Johnson argued. "No one's ever like, 'Don't look at my browser history — you'll see all the charities I volunteer for!'"
The late-night guys have zeroed in on Trump and Epstein's relationship in the wake of the Bondi news, which itself followed a report from the Wall Street Journal that the president had doodled a crude drawing of a woman inside a card for Epstein's 50th birthday.
"I mean, I can't believe, I was only friends with him for, what, 15 years?" Seth Meyers joked in his best Trump voice on NBC's "Late Night."
Jimmy Fallon, whose "Tonight Show" airs on NBC right before Meyers, added to the pile-on.
"Well, guys, the big story continues to be President Trump's handling of the Epstein files, and now newly uncovered footage shows that Jeffrey Epstein attended Trump's second wedding in 1993," he said. "You had the bride, the groom, the groomer."
'At the end of his vows, Trump turned to Epstein and said, 'Till suspicious death do us part,'" Fallon added, alluding to the idea held by many skeptics that Epstein did not die by suicide. The Department of Justice has refuted that theory.
That the fraternity of late night is taking aim at Trump comes as no surprise. The president is a favored foe of the Jimmys and beyond, and the ire runs both ways. In a recent post to Truth Social, the president wrote: "These are people with absolutely NO TALENT, who were paid Millions of Dollars for, in all cases, destroying what used to be GREAT Television."
It's been a tumultuous week for the late-night genre as a whole. Colbert recently announced his show will be canceled after one more season, sending shockwaves throughout the industry. His axing has been linked by some to his frequent criticism of the president – and his network's parent company, Paramount, wanting to curry favor with the Trump administration ahead of a major merger with Skydance Media.
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