Jon Stewart Rips Into Trump for Downplaying Epstein Files Drama
What To Know
- Jon Stewart criticized Donald Trump on The Daily Show for dismissing the renewed controversy over leaked Epstein emails as “boring stuff.”
- Stewart highlighted a bizarre email exchange involving Jeffrey Epstein, his brother Mark, and references to Steve Bannon, Vladimir Putin, Trump, and “Bubba.”
- Although Trump now claims he supports releasing the Epstein files, Stewart pointed out that Trump could have declassified them at any time during his presidency.
Jon Stewart got straight into the latest Epstein files drama on Monday’s (November 17) edition of The Daily Show, focusing on the recent email leaks and how Donald Trump has tried to blow them off as “boring stuff.”
“On the premiere of season eight of the Epstein files, old emails continue to resurface,” Stewart said at the start of his opening monologue. The comedian said the emails have “sparked renewed interest” because “exchanges like this one, which really encapsulates the absolutely astonishing nature of this entire affair.”
The late-night host then highlighted the viral email exchange between the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his brother, Mark. In the email, Mark told his brother to ask former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, “If Putin has the photos of Trump blowing Bubba?”
“This sentence may be 18 words long, seven of those words are ‘Steve Bannon,’ ‘Putin,’ ‘photos,’ ‘Trump,’ ‘blowing,’ ‘Bubba,'” Stewart said. “It’s a rich text. Literary scholars will secure tenure off the analysis of this text.”
He continued, “And I know what you’re probably thinking… Jeffrey Epstein had a brother?!”
Stewart then turned his attention to a statement released by Mark, in which he claimed the reference to “Bubba” was not about former President Bill Clinton, whose nickname is Bubba.
“Thank you for clearing that up. No further questions, your honor,” Stewart responded. “Boy, before I go, one last thing, which Bubba was he blowing then? It’s not Bubba Gump. That’s a restaurant. And you can’t blow a restaurant. By the way, that’s not a challenge, Mr. President.”
Stewart said these kinds of questions could be answered by Trump releasing the Epstein files, which, until this week, the President had been steadfastly against. Trump even went so far as to call the whole Epstein drama “boring stuff.”
A shocked Stewart replied, “Did you see the blowing email?! It’s kind of interesting. I mean, the little taste of that — no pun intended — did arouse, again, no pun intended, some curiosity about the rest of, if I may, the load. That one I meant.”
Trump has since changed his view, saying he has “nothing to hide” and encouraging the House Republicans to vote in favor of releasing the Epstein files.
Despite this, Stewart had questions, especially as Trump could’ve “declassified and released these files himself at any time.” And how does Stewart know that? Well, because Trump himself once said in an interview that when you’re the President, “you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified, even just by thinking about it.”
You can watch Stewart’s full opening monologue above and let us know your thoughts below.
The Daily Show, Weeknights, 11/10c, Comedy Central, Next-Day Streaming on Paramount+
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services