Colbert on Trump’s Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth: ‘An easy work problem if he shows up drinking’ | Late Night TV Roundup

Late-night hosts discuss allegations about Pete Hegseth’s troubling drinking and sexual misconduct, as well as outrage over Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter.

Stephen Colbert

On Wednesday night, Stephen Colbert focused on Pete Hegseth, the former Fox News host and Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, who by all accounts has a “slight work problem when he shows up drinking,” the Late Show host joked.

According to an NBC report, Hegseth’s drinking even worried Fox News colleagues. “Judge Jeanine Pirro was asked to comment and said, ‘ahgusasinfarp,'” Colbert quipped.

In anonymous interviews, several of Hegseth’s former colleagues at Fox said they smelled alcohol on him more than a dozen times during his time as co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend before he went on the air. “Come on, it’s a show that starts at 6 a.m. on weekends – I’m sure a lot of morning hosts are still feeling that from the night before,” Colbert continued.

Although none of his former colleagues could recall a time when Hegseth missed a scheduled appearance because of his drinking, Colbert noted, “That’s great because you know what everyone says when the drunk guy shows up at work: ‘Oh “Good, you’re here.”

With congressional support wavering, Hegseth tried to defend his appointment by promising to remain sober. “This is the biggest effort of my life and I won’t have a drop of alcohol on my lips while doing it,” he said.

“A bold promise that can only mean one thing: He’s going to chug his butt,” Colbert quipped.

Trump’s support for Hegseth is reportedly wavering — “kind of like Pete Hegseth at a staff meeting,” Colbert joked — and he’s considering replacing him with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Although DeSantis has some defense credentials, his nomination faces an uphill battle as many in Trump’s orbit don’t like him at all.

“Wow, that’s a weird way to find out that I’m in Trump’s sphere of influence,” Colbert said.

Jimmy Kimmel

In Los Angeles, Jimmy Kimmel expressed frustration with the reaction to Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter on federal gun and tax charges. “I don’t like the idea that the president said he wouldn’t pardon him and then he pardoned him,” he said. “But I also find it difficult to digest some of the outrage.”

“For the last three or four days, I’ve heard every Republican screaming about this 24/7 on Fox News. And not just Republicans, but Democrats too,” like Adam Schiff, Gavin Newsom and Tim Kaine. “A lot of them are crazy, but what I don’t remember – and maybe someone can help me with this – was hearing anyone from the right; I don’t remember any Republican currently in the Senate or House wagging their fingers or clicking their tongues when Donald Trump pardoned his friend Steve Bannon or a bunch of his MAGA supporters for wall money cheated. or for Paul Manafort or Roger Stone or Michael Flynn or Ivanka’s father-in-law Charles Kushner, who hired a prostitute to blackmail his sister’s husband.

“I don’t recall anyone at Fox News or Newsmax expressing a single negative thought about these pardons,” he continued. “But I hear anchors on CNN, MSNBC, articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Atlantic lambasting Joe Biden for pardoning Hunter. Isn’t that strange?

“I think Joe Biden made a mistake,” he added, explaining that the president should have based the pardon on what would happen to Hunter under Trump’s administration. “He said he was pardoning his son because he was targeted for prosecution,” he said. “He should have said, ‘I forgive him because I know that if I don’t, you animals will continue to torture him for the rest of his life. And the reason I know you will is because you are doing it right now.”

“Did Joe Biden do the right thing? No, he didn’t do the right thing,” he concluded. “If my son was in this situation, would I do what Joe Biden did? You’re damn right I would.”

The Daily Show

“Donald Trump is still building his next administration, but he seems to be doing it the same way that billionaire built the submarine Titanic, because it implodes immediately,” Ronny Chieng said on The Daily Show, referring to to the dwindling support for Hegseth after numerous attempts and reports of his excessive alcohol consumption.

“This would be very sobering news for Pete Hegseth if he wasn’t shit right now,” Chieng joked. “I mean, if Hegseth isn’t confirmed, that’s really going to make people question Trump’s strategy of giving the world’s unemployed people the hardest jobs ever.”

Chieng said he almost felt sorry for Hegseth. “He’s got it – a cushy job at Fox News, a side gig selling macho junk on right-wing Instagram, a loving third family – and then Trump comes along and offers him a job, and now his life kind of sucks. “I mean, who could have predicted this…except Matt Gaetz, Mike Pence, Rudy Giuliani, Michael Cohen and everyone else Trump has ever come in contact with.”