Stephen Colbert might not agree with President Donald Trump at the best of times, but there is one thing that The Late Show host does agree with Trump on: The president's comparison between the impeachment process and the Salem witch trials.
In a six-page letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday, Trump said "more due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials."
To this, Colbert said in jest, "You know what? I agree with the president on this one. Fair's fair. We should throw him in the river," referring the method of trial by water used to prove a suspected witch's innocence or guilt in the 16th and 17th centuries. The myth behind this method is that innocent people would drown and sink to the bottom of the river, but witches would float.
Trump's letter to Pelosi was described by Colbert as a "disorienting mish-mash of dry legal language mixed in with Trump's signature angry word smoothies."
Particularly of note to Colbert was Trump claiming the impeachment process has had a significant effect on his family. "You do not know, nor do you care, the the great damage and hurt you have inflicted upon wonderful and loving members of my family," Trump wrote to Pelosi.
Colbert reacted, mocking Trump's voice: "You've hurt them all. The innocent wife I cheated on with a porn star, to the poor kids whose mother I bailed on two wives ago."
On ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!, comedian Jimmy Kimmel described the letter as "the most deranged letter to Santa ever."
"It's a long, stupid, disingenuous and incoherent defense," said Kimmel.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives will vote to approve two articles of impeachment against Trump that charge the president with conditioning a White House meeting and military aid to Ukraine on a public announcement of investigations beneficial to his 2020 re-election campaign. Trump is accused of asking Ukraine to investigate the Democratic Party and potential 2020 election rival Joe Biden.
The second article of impeachment charges Trump with obstructing the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry by instructing witnesses to ignore subpoenas for testimony.
The House Judiciary Committee approved the two articles of impeachment Friday in a vote that was 17 to 13 along partisan party lines, sending the articles to a full House vote.
If the articles of impeachment are approved by the House, Trump would face trial in the Senate, likely to be held next year.
