SNL skewers Trump over his hush money trial and praise for Hannibal Lecter

Saturday Night Live lampooned Donald Trump in its cold open on Saturday night taking aim at his bombastic remarks outside the courtroom as he appears in New York City for the hush money case involving a porn star. 

The ex-president has been appearing in criminal court almost daily for nearly two months for trial as he faces 34 counts of falsifying business records. 

In its season finale, the late night show started with a Trump appearance ‘from his new home the barricades outside of 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 very weird and depressing hallway.’

‘I don’t like court because they say very mean things about me while I am trying to sleep,’ he added.

Johnson, who has regularly played Trump on SNL, made his remarks while standing behind a barricade on a set that did appear very similar to the hallway outside the courtroom in lower Manhattan where Trump has regularly been giving remarks. 

Much like the ex-president has been doing, Johnson slammed the gag order that prevents him from speaking about witnesses in the case.

‘He gave me a gag order, I said “that sounds like a challenge on RuPaul,’ Johnson as Trump said waving his hands in a similar manner as Trump. 

‘But in many ways, you know court has been great for me, it has been very eye-closening,’ he said.

‘Unfortunately, at the end of this trial it looks like I’m getting a very harsh sentence of being sent to a horrible place I do not want to go to: the White House. Do not want to go back to the White House but it appears people want to send me there.’

Despite appearing in court, the ex-president continues to lead in a series of recent polls out of battleground states.  

The prosecution in New York is expected to rest its case early this coming week, and Trump’s defense could begin. 

After saying he wanted to testify in his own defense last month, Trump has since backed off. It’s not clear whether he would take the stand. 

‘Trust me I would love to testify. I’m not afraid to testify at all, I’m just not going to out of fear,’ Johnson as Trump said. ‘You see they do a terrible thing when you testify which is, they write it down, and we don’t like that.’

The Trump impersonator also suggested the ex-president’s supporters would doxx jurors ‘to hell’  in the high-profile case and claimed ‘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 a third time.

SNL had it’s own cast of characters for the so-called ‘veepstakes’ including some mentioned by the ex-president as well as 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 votes because Black people do not like me.’

A gun-toting South Dakota governor Kristi Noem played by Heidi Gardner also made an appearance holding a fake dog. 

The current governor has been in the hot seat after writing about killing her 14-month-old dog in her new book. 

‘You know Kristi could be an interesting pick for VP because  on one hand, she shot a dog which you really can’t do, don’t shoot dogs folks,’ Johnson said as Trump. 

‘On the other hand, she shot a dog which is pretty awesome,’ he added. 

‘I kill goats too,’ Gardner added, a nod to another story from the governor.  

SNL also seized on recent remarks by the ex-president at a campaign rally in New Jersey where he praised the fictional character Hannibal Lecter. 

‘Finally, my last and favorite choice is a man I can’t stop talking about in my rallies. It’s the late great “Hannibal-Lected,”‘ Johnson said. 

‘I keep calling him late and great even though he’s not dead, he’s not great and he’s not real,’ Johnson admitted. ‘But I think he would really scare everybody at the border.’

Johnson ended the cold open as Trump by saying ‘if you’re tired about hearing all of my trials all you got to do is vote for me and it will all go away.’