--- title: Stephen Colbert Calls Trump a Dictator for Russia Story description: Stephen Colbert went after the White House for the continually changing story about Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer in 2016 canonical: https://time.com/4883690/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-russian-lawyer-dictated-statement/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-02T12:08:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:49:53.027Z article:section: Politics og:title: Stephen Colbert Mocks the White House’s Changing Story About Russia Meeting og:description: "Donald Trump is a dictator" og:url: https://time.com/4883690/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-russian-lawyer-dictated-statement/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt043c7913da035f4f/6988d81b86f68e753b6e5d53/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stephen Colbert Mocks the White House’s Changing Story About Russia Meeting twitter:description: "Donald Trump is a dictator" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt043c7913da035f4f/6988d81b86f68e753b6e5d53/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # ‘Donald Trump Is a Dictator.’ Stephen Colbert Mocks the White House’s Changing Story About Russia Meeting > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Aug 2, 2017 12:08 PM UTC  The Late Show with Stephen Colbert during the July 20 2017 show. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert during the July 20 2017 show. Scott Kowalchyk—CBS/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Aug 2, 2017 12:08 PM UTC Stephen Colbert on Tuesday went after President Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. for their continually changing story about the younger Trump’s meeting with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign. The [Washington _Post_ reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-dictated-sons-misleading-statement-on-meeting-with-russian-lawyer/2017/07/31/04c94f96-73ae-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.0b1aae0b3819) Monday that President Trump had “personally dictated” his son’s [initial misleading statement](http://time.com/4882941/donald-trump-jr-russian-meeting-obstruction/) about the meeting, which happened in June 2016. “Yeah, he dictated it. It’s official, Donald Trump is a dictator,” Colbert said on Tuesday’s episode of _The Late Show_. “Technically correct,” he added. The _Post’s_ report raised [legal questions](http://time.com/4882941/donald-trump-jr-russian-meeting-obstruction/) about the extent of the President’s involvement. “The President weighed in as any father would based on the limited information that he had,” White House Press Secretary [Sarah Huckabee Sanders said](http://time.com/4882937/white-house-donald-trump-jr-statement-natalia-veselnitskaya/) Tuesday. “He certainly didn’t dictate, but you know, he, like I said, he weighed in, offered suggestion, like any father would do,” she added. Colbert also mocked the [numerous staff changes and firings](http://time.com/4881442/donald-trump-anthony-scaramucci-white-house-firings/) at the White House in recent weeks. “For Donald Trump, it’s been a rough couple of — his entire presidency,” Colbert said. “That chaos coming out of the White House is just coming at you so fast, it’s hard to keep track of it.” Watch the full clip above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4883690/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-russian-lawyer-dictated-statement/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4883690/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-russian-lawyer-dictated-statement/"},"headline":"‘Donald Trump Is a Dictator.’ Stephen Colbert Mocks the White House’s Changing Story About Russia Meeting","datePublished":"2017-08-02T12:08:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:49:53.027Z","description":"\"For Donald Trump, it's been a rough couple of — his entire presidency\"","url":"https://time.com/4883690/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-russian-lawyer-dictated-statement/","keywords":["Television","White House","stephen colbert","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt043c7913da035f4f/6988d81b86f68e753b6e5d53/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt043c7913da035f4f/6988d81b86f68e753b6e5d53/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert","caption":"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert","creditText":"Scott Kowalchyk—CBS/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4883690/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-russian-lawyer-dictated-statement/","name":"‘Donald Trump Is a Dictator.’ Stephen Colbert Mocks the White House’s Changing Story About Russia Meeting"}}]}] ```