Jimmy Kimmel could hardly contain himself Thursday night, opening his monologue by jumping right into the news that he was mentioned in the ongoing criminal trial of former President Donald Trump.
“I am very excited, I am very proud, I’m exhilarated even,” Kimmel told his audience. “Because from here on, we aren’t just following the Donald Trump drama in New York. We are part of it.”
Text messages entered into evidence by the prosecution yesterday showed a 2018 exchange between Trump’s then-attorney Michael Cohen and Keith Davidson, who represented Stormy Daniels in the hush money payment, discussing an interview with Daniels on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The interview in question took place on January 30, 2018, following the State of the Union. In it, Kimmel brought up a letter Daniels had allegedly signed denying she had an affair with Trump, pressing Daniels on whether the signature was authentic. Daniels replied with a cagey implication that it wasn’t, causing concern among Cohen and Davidson.
“She just denied the letter,” Cohen texted Davidson. “You said she did it in front of you.”
After Davidson insisted he did see Daniels sign the letter, Cohen replied and mentioned the host. “They showed her signature and she claimed it was not hers on Kimmel.”
“Which is historic,” Kimmel told his audience last night after recapping all of this. “I don’t want to brag, but [it’s the] first time a late-night talk show has been introduced into evidence at the criminal trial for a President of the United States. Johnny Carson didn’t get that with Nixon. We got it here.”
Kimmel also riffed on who should play him and Guillermo in the inevitable Ryan Murphy miniseries adaptation of the trial. He suggests George Clooney or Chris Hemsworth for himself, and Pedro Pascal for Guillermo.
Watch the full clip below:
