Colbert ridicules Trump's 'Collusion is not a crime': He's 'completely flipped the script'

Today is the first of August, but Tuesday felt like "Christmas Morning" for Stephen Colbert. Why? As the "Late Show" host explained it: "Because all year long, Robert Mueller and his team of legal elves have been busy in their workshop making all the indictments for all the bad little boys and girls, and the magical day we've been waiting for is finally here 'cause it's the day of Paul Manafort's trial."

And yes, Colbert had plenty of burns for the former Trump campaign chairman with an apparent fondness for expensive ostrich-skin jackets. He even joked that Manafort "worked for the president 'cause he wanted a coat made of Trump pelt."

But that doesn't mean President Trump went unscathed during the monologue. Shifting to Trump, Colbert said: "For over a year now, his catchphrase has been 'no collusion.' " After playing a montage of Number 45 uttering the two words, Colbert assessed: "He uses it for every occasion. It's like his aloha; it means both 'hello' and 'I'm guilty.' "

Colbert then read Trump's tweet from Monday, which the late-night host said was an attempt at re-branding. "Collusion is not a crime, but that doesn't matter because there was No Collusion (except by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats)!" Trump tweeted at the time.

"OK, so collusion isn't a crime, but it doesn't matter because he didn't do it anyway – Hillary did," Colbert said. "It's really going to complicate the chants at his rallies." Envisioning what the rallies would look like, Colbert chanted: " 'Lock her up, but collusion's not a crime. So what are we locking her up for? I am confused! We're living in a web of lies!' "

He added, "Trump's completely flipped the script on this collusion thing. What's next? He's gonna go from 'This is a witch hunt' to 'OK, but I'm a good witch, like Glinda, the hot one from 'The Wizard of Oz.' "

KIRO