The Trump administration arrested permanent U.S. legal resident Mahmoud Khalil last week, despite having no evidence of a crime. Now, as protests for his release mount, John Oliver is weighing in, dismantling the whole situation on Sunday night’s episode of “Last Week Tonight.”
As always, Oliver kicked off the show with a smaller segment before getting to his main story, and that segment picked apart every piece of logic President Donald Trump’s team has given for detaining the former Columbia University student, seemingly on the sole basis of the fact that he led pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
Though Oliver dismantled each piece individually, he was most struck by one argument in particular.
“Maybe the most chilling statement this week came from a White House official who said the allegation here is not that he was breaking the law,” Oliver marveled. “That’s a pretty alarming thing to say about someone you literally just arrested at his home in front of his pregnant wife. It seems that we’ve gone from ‘innocent until proven guilty’ to ‘innocent, but you know what? Get in the van anyway.’”
But, like we mentioned, Oliver made sure to go through the defenses piece by piece. The first piece was the idea that Trump is simply cracking down on anti-Semitism in the U.S.
“Trump wanting to crack down on anti-Semitism is pretty rich, given a top DoD press secretary was recently found to have a history of racist and anti-Semitic tweets, [Elon] Musk and JD Vance both recently supported Germany’s AFD, a party with ties to neo-Nazis, and of course, there was this s–t,” Oliver sniped, pulling up a graphic of Musk’s apparent Nazi salute at Trump’s inauguration.
“And that is all before you get to their efforts this week to make sure that this f–king guy” — the comedian pulled up a photo of Mel Gibson — “whose views on the Jews are, let’s say, a matter of public records, got his guns back,” he continued.
Setting all that aside though, Oliver was quick to point out that Khalil himself expressly said that “anti-Semitism and any other form of racism has no place on this campus and in this movement.”
Oliver was also quick to note that, when pressed by journalists on what specific evidence there is that Khalil ever supported the terrorist organization Hamas, DHS Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar didn’t offer a real answer.
In fact, Edgar simply said, “Well, I think you can see it on TV, right?” and cited participation in pro-Palestine activity. And that made Oliver chuckle.
“First, when the question is about providing support for Hamas, and the answer is pro-Palestinian activity, you are already telling on yourself,” he said. “And it is not great when your best evidence is ‘I think you can see it on TV, right?’ That’s the same level of detail my parents would give to the question, ‘What does John do for work?’”
Jokes aside, Oliver added that “when the accusation is terrorism, you should need a bit more than ‘the vibes are off.’ Protesting, in and of itself, is not a crime, even if it makes people uncomfortable.”
To wrap up the segment, the host offered a warning, reminding viewers that Khalil has a green card and is married to a U.S. citizen.
“If someone can be deported as a green card holder for speech in support of Palestine, or anything else this administration objects to, that should chill you to the bone,” he said.
“Last Week Tonight” is now streaming on Max.
The post John Oliver Dismantles Mahmoud Khalil Arrest: ‘Gone From Innocent Until Proven Guilty’ to ‘Get in the Van Anyway’ appeared first on TheWrap.