Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen were on Colbert on Wednesday (Nov. 6) to promote their new movie The Good Liar, and while they were there, host Stephen Colbert asked them to reenact the infamous quid pro quo call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that’s currently at the center of the impeachment inquiry.
“I’ll be the judge of whether you’re innocent or guilty after you read the line,” Colbert told Mirren and McKellen. “The scene is, you’re on the phone with the Ukrainian president, his country has been invaded by the Russians, you’ve got the military aid he needs, but you’re not going to give it to him unless you get the pro quo back. This is what you say after he says, ‘I would like the javelin missiles.’”
Colbert had Mirren and McKellen take turns acting out Trump’s “I’d like you to do us a favor though” line with different inflections, striking his gavel and ruling “guilty” every time.
“There’s no way of saying that any other way, except for guiltily, because it’s a guilty phrase,” Mirren responded, earning a round of applause from the audience.
“Helen, can you be the president of the United States?” Colbert asked.
You can watch the full clip, in which the pair also discuss quintessential London imagery, below.
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