Thanks to Donald Trump issuing an unusually restrained defense of Matt Gaetz, a very amused Jimmy Kimmel went to town on the growing scandal that now includes reports of Gaetz asking for a preemptive pardon in the final days of the prior administration. During his Wednesday night monologue, Kimmel couldn’t help but point out the ridiculousness of Gaetz asking for a blanket pardon months before news of his alleged sex trafficking came to light.
“That’s not suspicious. 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. That’s not abnormal,” Kimmel joked.
According to a spokesman for Gaetz, the congressman claims he wasn’t asking for a pardon for just himself, but also for other people close to the Trump administration (to even Joe Exotic). “Right, that makes sense,” Kimmel quipped before moving on Trump’s statement defending Gaetz. The two-sentence statement was surprisingly short, but as Kimmel notes, that was only because the former president’s advisors stepped in. The late-night host also managed to dunk on Don Jr. and Eric Trump in the process.
“I guess that was the best Trump could do for Gaetz now that he doesn’t have Twitter anymore,” Kimmel said. “His advisers, according to Maggie Haberman of the Times, reportedly talked him out of a full-throated defense of Gaetz, which is sad because Matt Gaetz really was the son Donald Trump never had even though he had a couple.”
(Via Jimmy Kimmel Live)