Now, these boys arent from america. No, theyre from across the pond, the big one, the one with hawaii in the middle. laughter they really are a fine group of youngsters. In fact, you can call them the fab seven. Its got a nice ring to it. So lets meet them now. Fellas, introduce yourself. How you doing . Im rm. Im a nice boy. Im suga. Hi, my name is v, and im a good boy. Hi im your hope, youre my hope. Im jhope. Hi, im jimin. Nice to meet you guys. Hello im worldwide handsome jin, you know. Hi. Im jung kook. Thank you for inviting us. Stephen aeyre known by their nicknames, the cute one, the cute one, the cute one, the cute one, the cute one, the cute one, and, uh. Uh, im sorry, a little help . The cute one cheers and applause announcer its the late show with Stephen Colbert. Tonight, alabummer. Plus, stephen welcomes pod save america. And global supergroup bts. Featuring jon batiste and stay human. And now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, its Stephen Colbert cheers and applause stephen wooo hello welcome cheers and applause fantastic thanks, everybody. Please, have a seat. Welcome. Up there, down there, out there, all around the world. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the late show. Im your host, Stephen Colbert. The cheers and applause the cute one. laughter um, before we get started, right off the bat, i just want to thank the news cycle. Because its a rare treat for a latenight comedian when the subject of your comedy is legislation restricting abortion. Its laughter its just a funny word, like guacamole. laughter but thats the big story, so, here we go. Yesterday, alabama lawmakers passed a bill banning nearly all abortions. That audience booing that is either an overreach by the alabama g. O. P. Or some pretty intense vir marketing for the new season of handmaids tale. laughter i dont get it. If a tv show has to become reality, why cant it be star trek so they can beam me off this planet . cheers and applause now, under the alabama bill, doctors who perform, lets say, guacamoles, would face felony jail time up to 99 years, if convicted. audience booing yep. Theyre going to throw them right in the alabama slammer for 99 years. Lets see, its 2019, so by the time those doctors get out of jail, in alabama, it will be 1895. laughter the bill also applause 1861 . Im not sure. The bill also makes no exceptions for victims of rape and incest, because the whole point of this law is to establish that a fetus is a person with rights. Now, that is a bold interpretation of human development. But, on the plus side, apparently, pregnant women get to vote twice now. applause it is the most it is i think its fair to say that this is the most restrictive law of its kind in america. Which is why it barely squeaked by in the alabama senate, with 256, with all 25 votes cast in favor coming from republican men. Though it may be the last time those republican men will be coming for a while. cheers and applause alabama thats the one. Its a better joke. Alabama is just the latest of these restrictive laws. Theyre all over the place right now. Theyre following mississippi, ohio, and georgia, where, even if a georgia Resident Plans to travel elsewhere to obtain an abortion, when she comes back, she could face ten years imprisonment. Now we know audience booing now we know why she was taking a Midnight Train to georgia. She was sneaking past the cops. Now, however you feel about abortion and its a very divisive issue, reasonable people can have different personal feelings about this decision. And the people of alabama voted for these legislators but heres the deal even those legislators admit this law is not drafted sincerely. Its a purposeful and cynical overreach because they just want to use this law to get to the Supreme Court and overturn roe v. Wade. Of course, people have been trying to do that for decades. Whats different about this Supreme Court . Anthony kennedy, who was a vote for roe v. Wade, has been replaced by brett kavanaugh, who will vote to overturn it. Stephen so, this alabama case could overturn roe v. Wade, as long as it doesnt arrive at the Supreme Court during beach week. laughter obviously applause then obviously, when kavanaugh will recuse himself, which is the legal term for boofing. Dude dude, you were a monster dude, you were a monster at the party last night. You recused yourself i would have helped. The bills proponents are very confident about its chances in the court, especially Alabama Prolife Coalition president and Colonel Sanders after he got his stomach stapled, eric johnston. Stephen so hes prolife, unless its ruth bader ginsburg. Quick, justice ginsberg, get pregnant its your only chance laughter now, now, the lack cheers and applause the lack of exceptions in the bill has troubled many, even those who voted for it, but that shouldnt be a problem according to the bills sponsor, republican state senator and undertakers first pass at giving your loved one a smile, Clyde Chambliss. Chambliss explained that the bill doesnt actually outlaw abortion, saying it only affects women who are known to be pregnant and would provide every female thats pregnant or thinks theyre pregnant and the male who was involved, it gives them that window of time. This bill does not change that window of time. So, if you find out youre pregnant, the law gives you all the time before you knew that to decide what you want to have done. laughter that is a great out for any woman whose ob gyn is doc brown. laughter cheers and applause now, if that sounds like Clyde Chambliss has no idea how bodies work, wait until you hear him explain how a woman finds out if shes pregnant. She has to take a pregnancy test. She has to do something to know whether shes pregnant or not. You cant know that immediately. It takes some time for all those chromosomes, and all that. Yes, well said. Who among us does not remember sitting in health class and learning about the birds, and all those chromosomes, and all that. Im starting to suspect that in alabama, sex ed is just taught by some guy named ed. One so far, one democratic woman in the legislature tried to fight back. State senator vivian figures introduced an amendment to make vasectomies a felony, noting that there are no laws regulating what a man can do with his body. cheers and applause oh oh, snap laughter i mean, snip. laughter speaking of strange legal reasoning, donald trump. A few weeks ago . A few weeks ago now, the House Oversight committee issued a subpoena for Donald TrumpsFinancial Statements to see whether the president has been accurate in his financial reporting. I can help with that one nah uh. And this week, trumps lawyers asked a federal judge to block the subpoena because congress has essentially no authority to investigate any president for anything. Wow. Wow, that is a big swing. Right now, nixons ghost is going, what the hell . Can i have a redo . laughter thats the ghost. Nixon sorry, i would take nixon back right now, by the way. Trumps lawyers argue that by trying to investigate trumps corruption, congress is assuming the powers of the department of justice, which is within the executive branch, which is controlled by the president. So the only person, by this logic, allowed to investigate trump, is trump himself. knocks on door donald whats going on in there . as trump dont come in. Im investigating myself laughter and im almost exonerated. Soooo close. laughter and applause its a quality family joke, is what that was. laughter now, a lot of people are unhappy with this tactic, especially house democrats. But a Senior Administration official assured the nation, saying that when it comes to the president , hes not above the law, but hes also not below the law. Wait a second. Above the law and not below the law, what are you . I am the law laughter applause stephen okay, okay. I get it. Okay, one person who is cooperating with congress is first child and boy who rode the pony all by himself, donald trump jr. laughter after weeks of ignoring their subpoena, last night, junior struck a deal for a limited interview with the intelligence committee. To be fair, every meeting with don jr. Involves limited intelligence. laughter cheers and applause but still still jon yeah, yeah. Stephen still, this is a big change. Just last weekend, don juniors lawyers drafted a letter to the committee, telling its members that donald trump jr. Would not submit to openet cluded multiple democrats running for president. Well, come on you walk into any room, youll find multiple democrats running for president. cheers and applause i bought, this morning this is true. This this i bought a coffee this morning, i bought a coffee this morning, im 90 sure my barista was beto orourke. laughter so at the last minute, the committee agreed to an interview with the questions limited to about a halfdozen topics and the time limited to no longer than 24 hours. Thats a good deal for him, actually. As the times put it, the move was straight out of his fathers playbook set the terms of the debate at the most extreme end of the discussion by saying he would not appear, prompt a controversy, then cut a deal on his own terms. Well, if thats the playbook, can you imagine a negotiation between trump and don jr. . as trump senior and junior junior, clean your room. How about i set fire to my room . How about i divorce your mother . Deal . Lets shake on it. applause quick update on trumps ongoing trade war with china. Hit it, jon trade war, huh good god, yall what is it good for . I am really asking say it again, yall cheers and applause stephen i thought it would happen this time. Jon i did, too. Stephen so close. Today, chinese president xi jinping gave his first public statements since the tariffs ramped up and described the escalating conflict between the u. S. And china as a stupid idea and disastrous act. Its not an act, sir. He really is that stupid. laughter xi, xi cheers and applause xi xi called for understanding between the two nations, saying, we should hold up equality and respect and abandon pride and prejudice. Way ahead of you, xi. I abandoned pride and prejudice about two chapters in. laughter no explosions, no quality kills. Mr. Darcy doesnt even know kung fu. laughter its not just china who has issues with this trade war. So does trumps own party. According to g. O. P. Senator pat toomey, the fact is its americans who are going to pay the price of these tariffs. But, i assume the president understands how this works. laughter why would you assume that he knows anything . That he knows how anything works . This is him in a stationary fire truck laughter cheers and applause weve got a great show for you tonight. We have got the guys from pod save america, and Global Super Group bts band playing cheers and applause get ready for summer everythings on sale up to sixty percent off thats up to sixty percent off everything. With styles from just four bucks. Hurry in, to old navy. Everyone in your family mis only 10 bucks even your kids friend whos always around at 10 bucks a head, trevor can stay 3 for 10 bucks, baby, bucks, baby, bucks mmmhmm. Together we chilis, oh yeah baby yeah the good news . Our comfort lasts all day. The bad news . So does his energy. New depend® fitflex underwear offers your best comfort and protection guaranteed. Because, perfect or not, lifes better when youre in it. Be there with depend®. Tthe bad news . 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In just a few minutes we will have the global supergroup bts out here. And tomorrow we have the big bang. The entire cast will join us after the hourlong series finale, big bang. First, my first guests are three former Obama Staffers who went on to start a podcast empire. From pod save america, please welcome jon favreau, jon lovett, and tommy vietor cheers and applause stephen welcome back. Welcome back. Thanks for having us. Stephen how are you guys holding up pod saving america . Does it every day you see new things. We did it. Its saved. Stephen oh, thank you i wish i had a gift for you. Lets talk about the alabama guacamole ban. What goes again, hilarious. What goes through your mind when you see laws like this being passed in state after state, when they say specifically, we dont want this law. Yeah. Stephen we want you to know, we dont actually like this law. Its just for a different purpose. Well, its clearly, like you were saying earlier, its a play to get in front of the Supreme Court. I mean, bans like this, weve seen, dont end abortion. They make abortion more dangerous and they put womens lives at risk. And thats what happens here. And applause stephen now, there have been there have been incremental changes to abortion laws around the country over the last ten years. Why why are why are these laws getting so much more attention . Brett kavanaugh sits on the Supreme Court now, and they think that they have a conservative majority, and if they get these laws to the court, they believe that he will help overturn roe v. Wade, and stephen but Susan Collins said right. Good vote, Susan Collins. Hope youre happy. Stephen she said its settled law. I dont think Susan Collins ever really seems that happy. laughter stephen no, she doesnt, she doesnt. Maybe thats happy for a mainer. Im not sure. I dont know. R its a strange place. Stephen do you think it will work . Do you oraculate right now. Its a 54 conservativeliberal court right now, with, strangely, the swing vote being john roberts. Right. This law is so egregious that Pat Robertson said he thought it might be a mistake because it goes too far. So, i think that says something about this specific law they passed. But they are chipping away at Abortion Access in state after state with, like jon said, the hope of running it up to the Supreme Court because they believe roe will be overturned. So, democrats need to win back the senate and win back the white house and prevent justices like kavanaugh or gorsuch from getting the vote. cheers and applause stephen do you think this is the kind of issue that perhaps the president or the republicans would like to run on, like the 2004 proposed gay marriage ban, you know, the constitutional gay marriage ban because its a turnout issue for them . I actually dont think it is. I mean, if you look at polling on this, even people who say who selfidentify as prolife, a third of those people still believe that abortion should be mostly l. So this is not a winning issue for them. And i think well see that look, if people want to do something even before the election, you can donate to the Yellow Hammer fund, which will help protect Abortion Access in alabama. You can donate to the a. C. L. U. Theyre going to sue the state of alabama. Theyve won before when its come to abortion cases. cheers and applause and then the most most important thing is a reminder that state elections and local elections matter. They matter just as much as the president ial election. cheers and applause we you know, we launched we launched vote save america last year. Were relaunching it this week. Its back. So you can go on the website. You can check to see if youre registered to vote. You can find out how you can help and volunteer, and theres a whole bunch of other information there. So, there are a lot of local and state elections in 2019 saw this week. Look, there are probably a lot of teens watching this specific episode of your show. Because because b. L. T. Is going to be on. laughter b. R. B. Stephen delicious, delicious. B. B. Stephen no, no, youre right. Stephen tommy, you were obamas they should register. That was the point. Stephen oh, they should register. They should register to vote, teens, bts teens. cheers and applause stephen you got to get to the joke first. Even if it undermines democracy, you have to get to the joke first. Tommy, you were Obamas National Security council spokesman. How much International Support do you think there is right now for trumps escalating of the sword rattle against iran . Im sure the saudis would love us to fight a war for them against iran, but i think everyone else thinks its crazy because this feels like iraq 2. 0. You have an administration that wants regime change in iran. John bolton has said that we should bomb iran. So we wake up and see hes sent an Aircraft Carrier to the gulf. The New York Times reported that hes considering sending 120,000 troops to the middle east in case something happens. And that is an invasionsize force. That is exactly basically the number of troops we sent into iraq, which got us to baghdad and that led us into a quagmire for a decade. Stephen is that trolling for a war . I it is certainly provoking iran. We have been trying to crush their economy with sanctions. We have designated a key part of their military as a terrorist group. And so were backing them into a corner, and theres no negotiation happening as an off ramp. So people need to be really worried about this. Congress needs to step up. The press has to stop publishing background quotes about intelligence that no one has seen that alleges iran is doing some sort o