Media

Colbert tears into Barr: ‘Your four-page summary was a steaming pile of snit’

Late-night host Stephen Colbert on Wednesday tore into Attorney General William Barr after his testimony on Capitol Hill, calling his four-page memo describing the conclusions of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation a “steaming pile of snit.”

Colbert was mocking comments made by Barr that a follow-up letter written by Mueller after Barr issued his summary was “a bit snitty.”

{mosads}“I can imagine Mueller was a bit snitty because your four-page summary was a steaming pile of snit,” Colbert said.

Mueller wrote that Barr’s March 24 memo did not “capture the context, nature, and substance” of his findings after the 22-month investigation. 

“There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations,” the letter continued

Colbert, a frequent critic of President Trump’s administration, said that Mueller’s letter showed the former special counsel was concerned about Barr’s complete characterization of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

“ ‘Context, nature, and substance.’ That is, uh — that is everything. That’s like saying, ‘I really like what you did with this, you know, car, except the wheels, the engine and the car,’ ” Colbert quipped. 

During the hours-long hearing Wednesday, the attorney general claimed that Mueller told him he did not believe the summary was “misleading or inaccurate” but instead pointed fingers toward press coverage not capturing the essence of his four-page memo. 

Colbert described the hearing as “incredibly frustrating to watch, filled with legalistic hair-splitting and political ass-covering.” 

“I’d say it made me want to wring his neck, but I’d need like five more hands,” Colbert said of the attorney general.