Martin Short quips at Trump investigation during Emmy Awards speech

Martin Short delivered a barb aimed at former President Trump’s handling of classified documents while appearing Monday at the Emmy Awards.

“Really, what an audience you are,” the “Only Murders in the Building” star exclaimed as he took to the Primetime Emmy Awards stage in Los Angeles to present the award in the best variety talk series category.

“I wish I could box you up and take you home, like classified White House documents,” Short, 72, quipped to laughs from the audience at the 74th annual awards show.

Trump’s legal team fought a request from the Department of Justice to allow its review of classified materials taken from Mar-a-Lago, the ex-president’s Florida resort home, to continue in a Monday court filing. The investigation, Trump’s lawyers said in the filing, “at its core is a document storage dispute that has spiraled out of control.” 

While Short’s quip came during a largely politics-free night at the Emmys, the performer has said in the past that he’s purposely avoided Trump-related zingers. In a 2018 Netflix special with fellow comedian Steve Martin, Short said the pair opted not to make mention of the then-commander in chief.

“Steve and I have great respect for the fact that we don’t just want a liberal audience,” the actor told The Daily Beast.

“So that’s why we deliberately do not mention Donald Trump,” he said at the time. 

“But as far as the Trump presidency, I wouldn’t even call it a presidency. It’s an asterisk. It’s a typo,” Short said.

“I mean, every day it’s worse and 10 years from now the history books will be having a field day with it and the shame of the people who supported him, if they’re still around, in the sense of being in the public eye, will be like the people who supported [late Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.)],” he said.