John Oliver calls out Donald Trump's 'incompetence' over Russian probe

The host spoke at length about Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, and George Papadopoulos

Over the last few weeks, John Oliver has continued to tactfully attack Donald Trump by merely pointing out what the President has been doing over the last few weeks.

One ongoing point of contention has been the ongoing ‘Russian scandal’, something the Last Week Tonight host has dubbed ‘Stupid Watergate’.

“Yes, it’s finally happened,” Oliver said, “The first charges.” The host was referring to Paul Manafort and business partner Rick Gates. A 31-page inditement has been published about the pair, alleging they set up a scheme to hide millions of dollars they received from a pro-Russian political party.

“Trump must be furious with them, not so much for the part where they allegedly lied to the government, but where they pretended to have less money than did,” Oliver joked, saying they had “violated the tenets of whatever sticky back issue of ‘F**kable Yacht’ magazine Trump considers his code of ethics.”

According to the indictment, Manafort has spent upwards of $2 million on rugs and clothing. “How the f**k does this guy spend that much on clothing. He looks like he bought all the suits he was going to wear for the rest of his life on one day in 1992 with a cashier’s cheque for $900.”

Trump, as anyone who follows his Twitter will know, pointed out Manafort allegedly worked with the Russians before joining the Trump team.

Posting on social media, the President attempted to turn the conversation from Manafort onto Hilary Clinton, writing: “Why aren’t Crooked Hillary and the Dems the focus.” He added in another Tweet: “Also there is NO COLLUSION.”

Those Tweets mean two things, according to Oliver: either Trump knew about the incident beforehand, or “didn't do as much as Google Manafort beforehand. Because everybody knows Manafort is dodgy.” Manafort has worked with various dictators — including some close to Putin — from around the world.

“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?”

The host then moved onto George Papadopoulos, who recently admitted to lying to the FBI about Russian contact, even telling the Trump campaign about the Russian connection.

As has been widely reported on, Papadopoulos was also pictured in an important security meeting alongside Trump, something the President says he does not remember (despite Trump having boasted about having one of the best memories of all time).

“There are three people from the Trump campaign facing serious entanglement charges from overseas,” Oliver said. “On all three cases, Trump’s pushback has been ‘I don’t know anything about the people I should have known those things about’.

“That is his signature move. He is playing ‘The Trump Card’. He is using his own incompetence as a defence.”

Oliver added how we can’t let Trump keep playing his signature card, saying: “We’d be saying this guy is too dumb to really understand what he is doing, so I guess we have no choice but to let him keep being President. Please, let’s not do that.” Watch below.

Last week, Oliver — who was recently cast in The Lion King — took Trump to task over the opioid crisis.