--- title: John Oliver Returns to Russia Probe on 'Last Week Tonight' description: “If this is a witch hunt, than witches exist,” John Oliver said about Robert Mueller's Russia investigation canonical: https://time.com/5307778/john-oliver-stupid-watergate-trump-russia/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-11T07:30:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:53:19.427Z og:title: John Oliver Talks Russia Probe on 'Last Week Tonight' og:description: Oliver returns to the slow burning scandal he calls Stupid Watergate og:url: https://time.com/5307778/john-oliver-stupid-watergate-trump-russia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Oliver Talks Russia Probe on 'Last Week Tonight' twitter:description: Oliver returns to the slow burning scandal he calls Stupid Watergate twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 'If This is a Witch Hunt, Then Witches Exist.' John Oliver Returns to Mueller's Russia Investigation by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 11, 2018 7:30 AM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 11, 2018 7:30 AM UTC To mark the one year anniversary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, John Oliver returned to President [Donald Trump’](http://time.com/5307687/canada-trade-relationship-trump-trudeau/)s White House and the slow burning scandal he calls “Stupid Watergate.” [Trump](http://time.com/5307303/donald-trump-tweets-g-7-false-statements/) and his supporters, Sean Hannity, Rudy Giuliani, and others have been saying that Mueller’s investigation is nothing more than a witch hunt, a notion that Oliver scoffs at, because if those three had been alive when people were still burning witches, “they would have had front row seats, toasting marshmallows,” Oliver said. In the past year, the probe has led to several [indictments and guilty pleas](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-aides-factbox/factbox-under-investigation-or-indicted-the-trump-aides-facing-scrutiny-idUSKBN1HH3HH), which in Oliver’s opinion, “If this is a witch hunt, then witches exist.” Despite Mueller’s progress, according to a recent poll, public support for the Russia investigation has dropped. According to Oliver, that is troubling because most people should want to know whether or not a hostile foreign government tried to [manipulate the U.S. election.](http://time.com/magazine/) While Trump and his supporters, like Sean Hannity and Kellyanne Conway, have been saying the investigation should be shut down, because they believe there’s no collusion. However, Oliver notes that Mueller’s mandate didn’t include the word collusion at all. ”Saying the investigation has to shut down if there’s no collusion is like saying a game of Scrabble has to end because you fit all the letters in your mouth,” says Oliver. “Congratulations, but those aren’t really the rules that we agreed to.” While Oliver admits that he honestly doesn’t know whether Trump is guilty or not, he firmly believes that “the process of finding out is really important and it needs to be seen through to its conclusion.” John Oliver Returns to Russia Probe on 'Last Week Tonight' ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5307778/john-oliver-stupid-watergate-trump-russia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5307778/john-oliver-stupid-watergate-trump-russia/"},"headline":"'If This is a Witch Hunt, Then Witches Exist.' 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