Stephen Colbert Exposes Trump's Ridiculous 'Self-Pardon' Idea for the Farce that It Is

President Donald Trump tweeted about pardoning himself on Monday — a highly dubious constitutional move that has never even been attempted — but it wasn't until "The Late Show" with Stephen Colbert aired Monday night that Trump received the perfect response.

"As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?" Trump asked in his tweet.

"I love riddles!" Colbert said. "I know this one: It's because if you bring the grain over the river first, the fox will collude with the Russians to get the chicken."

But then he made a joke that got to a serious point: "Why are you bringing it up if you're not going to do it? It's like a surgeon saying, 'It's just a routine appendectomy, but I could kill you at any time. But why would I do that? Okay, now count backwards from 10.'"

Trump's assertion of his pardon power is deeply suspicious — it could be what's called a "trial balloon," which is when politicians broach an idea without proposing it to test its feasibility. As Colbert rightly notes, just mentioning the idea should make us suspect that Trump is hiding something.

Remember: President Barack Obama never talked about the idea of a self-pardon — neither did President Bill Clinton, who faced much more serious legal challenges than Obama. They both knew — apparently, unlike Trump — that pardoning themselves would never be necessary. The fact that Trump is bringing it up all suggests he knows he's in deep and is looking for any way out he can find.

Watch the clip below: