Saturday Night Live returned from a two-week hiatus with a cold open skewering Attorney General William Barr’s summary of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.
And now, Robert Mueller finishes his report, William Barr summarizes the report, and Donald Trump tweets his reaction to the summary. #SNL pic.twitter.com/bcJzpIwwio
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) March 31, 2019
Robert De Niro returned to play Mueller, with Aidy Bryant as Barr and Alec Baldwin as Trump. The sketch parodied how Mueller’s report was boiled down by Barr to just a four-page summary and how Trump responded to it on Twitter. Kate McKinnon also literally popped up as Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
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“Rudy, can you believe it? We got off scot-free!” Trump said.
“I know, I know… I guess I was a legal genius the whole time,” Giuliani replied. “And all my mind games worked. If you want to know what my mind games were, you’re going to have to ask the family of goblins that live in my head and pulls my eyes open.”
After Barr and Mueller suggest the country move on and try to heal, Baldwin’s Trump said it was the only thing he will talk about for the next four years.
“Vengeance will be mine!” Trump said.
“And I will take the first born child of every Democrat unless they can guess that my name is Rumpelstiltskin,” Giuliani said.
On Sunday, Barr sent a four-page letter to Congress, just two days after Mueller submitted the findings of his nearly two-year investigation. In the letter, Barr said Mueller did not gather evidence “sufficient to establish” that Trump committed a crime. However, Barr quoted directly from the report, writing, “The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.’”
Barr later wrote, “After reviewing the Special Counsel’s final report on these issues; consulting with Department officials, including the Office of Legal Counsel; and applying the principles of federal prosecution that guide our charging decisions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offence.”
On Friday, Barr sent another letter to Congress, in which he said Mueller’s report will be ready for release by “mid-April, if not sooner.” Barr also said Mueller is assisting in the process of redacting information that could not be made public.
In recent episodes of Saturday Night Live, Lorne Michaels enlisted Robert De Niro to play Mueller. De Niro first played the former FBI director in an April episode, where he interviewed Ben Stiller, who played former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. De Niro showed up again in a November cold open to wish say goodbye to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
De Niro’s most recent appearance as Mueller came during the Christmas episode hosted by Matt Damon. He starred in a parody of It’s A Wonderful Life, where Trump (played by Alec Baldwin) does not become president. In the skit, Mueller told Trump he got to spend more time with his grandson because “I don’t have to investigate some idiot for treason.”
This weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live was hosted by Sandrah Oh, with Tame Impala serving as the musical guest.
The April 6 episode will be hosted by Game of Thrones star Kit Harington with Sara Bareilles performing. Emma Stone is hosting the April 13 episode, with South Korean pop sensation BTS performing.
SNL airs at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC Saturdays.
Photo credit: NBC
