Stephen Colbert, host of CBS’s The Late Show, roasted President Donald Trump during his opening monologue Tuesday night after a New York Times investigative report revealed that his father had allegedly funneled money to him and his siblings when they were young.
Out on the campaign stump in 2016, then-presidential candidate Trump suggested that he was a self-made billionaire, taking a “small” loan of $1 million of his father, the late New York real estate tycoon Fred Trump, and turning it into his Trump Organization empire, per CNBC.
The Times reported Tuesday, though, that Trump received possibly more than $413 million in today’s money from his father, allegedly helping the elder Trump evade taxes in the 1990s. The newspaper claimed that through various tax schemes and alleged fraud, he increased the money he received from his parents.
“… The story of how Donald Trump got rich cannot be reduced to handouts from his father,” the Times wrote in its lengthy investigative piece. “Before he became president, his singular achievement was building the brand of Donald J. Trump, Self-Made Billionaire, a brand so potent it generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue through TV shows, books and licensing deals.”
During the Late Show, Colbert first made fun Trump’s claimed $1 million loan from dad.
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“That’s barely enough to silence eight porn stars,” Colbert quipped, referring to his controversy with adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who allegedly were paid to keep quiet about claimed affairs. “A man’s got to eat.”
Colbert pointed out in the Times report that according to tax records, Trump was “earning” $200,000 in today’s dollars at the age of 3. The newspaper wrote that it appeared the scheme allowed the elder Trump to escape gift and estate taxes.
“So, let me get this straight: At one point, Donald Trump was an extraordinarily wealthy toddler. And today? He is still that,” the comedian and talk show host joked.
Colbert was not the only one who had some fun at Trump’s expense over the New York Times report. His rival Jimmy Kimmel on ABC jumped on the same Times line about Trump’s earnings as a toddler.
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“He’s not just a con man, he was a con baby first,” Kimmel quipped on his talk show. “He was a millionaire on his own by the time he was 8-years-old. But he earned that money. He ate every piece of broccoli on his plate.”
Kimmel went on to say, “You have to remember, when you’re a young man like Trump was, you may be guilty of something you might not be guilty of.”
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