John Oliver on Russia scandal: ‘Is Trump smart enough to be evil?’

John Oliver is questioning whether President Trump is “smart enough to be evil.”

On “Last Week Tonight,” Oliver addressed the recent charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

During his segment, Oliver said the more people learn about Manafort, the “shadier” he gets.

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“Also, while Manafort may have been gone before the election, [Richard] Gates, his partner, who prosecutors say had 55 bank accounts — he helped run the inaugural committee and has been a frequent visitor to the White House, so again, the question here is, did Trump know all of this and not care,” Oliver asked.

“Or, did he know none of it because he’s incompetent. In other words, is Trump smart enough to be evil?”

Oliver added that people should also think about the guilty plea from former Trump adviser George Papadopoulos when addressing this question.

“It speaks to the sheer stupidity of the people involved here that so many of them often left written records of their potentially criminal actions,” he said.

Papadopoulos pleaded guilty last month to lying to FBI agents who are investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Trump and the White House have since attempted to distance the president from the former adviser.

Manafort was charged last week with conspiracy against the United States, tax fraud and money laundering in the first indictments to come in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.

Trump tweeted last week that Manafort’s lawyer said there was “no collusion,” adding: “Events mentioned took place long before he came to the campaign.”

Trump also called Papadopoulos a “young, low-level volunteer.”