--- ---  # ‘Donald Trump Is a Dictator.’ Stephen Colbert Mocks the White House’s Changing Story About Russia Meeting  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. Stephen Colbert Calls Trump a Dictator for Russia Story ```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"}}]}] ```