Saturday Night Live satirized Donald Trump in its cold open session Saturday night, taking aim at his bombastic comments outside the courtroom while appearing in New York City for the hush money case involving a porn star.
The former president has appeared in criminal court almost daily for nearly two months to stand trial while facing 34 counts of falsifying business records.
In its season finale, the late-night show began with an appearance by Trump “from his new home, the barricades outside a Manhattan courthouse.”
“Good evening everyone and thank you for coming to visit me in my cage at the zoo,” said actor James Austin Johnson playing Trump. “I’m really enjoying these post-court press conferences in this strange, depressing hallway.”
“I don’t like the courts because they say very bad things about me while I’m trying to sleep,” he added.
SNL Addressed Trump’s Hush Money Trial With an Appearance Outside the Courtroom in the Season Finale
Johnson, who has regularly played Trump on SNL, made his comments while standing behind a barricade on a set that looked very similar to the hallway outside the courtroom in lower Manhattan, where Trump has been regularly giving remarks.
Just as the former president has been doing, Johnson criticized the gag order that prevents him from speaking about witnesses in the case.
“He gave me a gag order and I said ‘that sounds like a challenge to RuPaul,'” Johnson said as Trump, waving his hands in a Trump-like manner.
“But in many ways, the court has been fantastic for me, it’s been very eye-opening,” he said.
‘Unfortunately, at the end of this trial it looks like I will receive a very harsh sentence of being sent to a horrible place I don’t want to go: the White House. I don’t want to go back to the White House, but it seems like people want to send me there.
James Austin Johnson Playing Trump on the Manhattan Court at SNL Cold Open
Despite appearing in court, the former president continues to lead in a series of recent polls in battleground states.
Prosecutors in New York are expected to finish their case early next week and Trump’s defense could begin.
After saying he wanted to testify in his own defense last month, Trump has backtracked. It is unclear whether he would take the stand.
‘Believe me, I would love to testify. “I’m not afraid to testify at all, I’m just not going to do it out of fear,” Johnson said as Trump. “See, they do a terrible thing when you testify, which is to say, they write it up, and we don’t like that.”
Johnson as Trump with ‘Juror 9’ played by cast member Sarah Sherman
The Trump impersonator also suggested that the former president’s supporters would send jurors “to hell” in the high-profile case and claimed that “Juror 9” is “to me, she’s like a six.”
Meanwhile, Trump has been floating a series of potential vice presidential picks as he runs for president for a third time.
SNL had its own cast of characters for so-called ‘veepstakes,’ including some mentioned by the former president and others.
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott was played by Michael Longfellow, who claimed he was there to “help Trump win the black vote, specifically my vote.” “No other black people vote because black people don’t like me.”
Armed South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, played by Heidi Gardner, also appeared holding a fake dog.
Johnson as Trump with Devon Walker playing Senator Tim Scott on SNL
Gov. Kristi Noem has defended herself after sharing that she shot her dog in her book.
The current governor has been in hot water after writing about the death of her 14-month-old dog in her new book.
“You know Kristi could be an interesting choice for vice president because, for one, she shot a dog, which you can’t really do, don’t shoot dogs,” Johnson said as Trump.
“On the other hand, he shot a dog, which is pretty impressive,” he added.
“I kill goats too,” Gardner added, a nod to another story from the governor.
Johnson as Trump on SNL with Michael Longfellow playing Hannibal Lecter
Donald Trump recently praised the “late, great” Hannibal Lecter during a rally in Wildwood, New Jersey.
SNL also seized on the former president’s recent comments at a campaign rally in New Jersey where he praised the fictional character Hannibal Lecter.
‘Finally, my last and favorite option is a man I can’t stop talking about at my rallies. He is the late, great “Hannibal-Lected,” Johnson said.
“I keep calling him late and cool even though he’s not dead, he’s not cool and he’s not real,” Johnson admitted. “But I think he would really scare everyone at the border.”
Johnson ended the Trump-like cold open by saying, “if you’re tired of hearing all my judgments, all you have to do is vote for me and it’ll all go away.”
