'SNL' rips into Trump over Santos pardon, Bolton indictment and Time Magazine rant

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: In 'Saturday Night Live's' Weekend Update segment on October 18, hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che trained their sights squarely on President Donald Trump and his political entourage. They devoted a sharp four-minute sequence to the week’s biggest headlines.

“Yesterday, President Trump finally released what everyone has been asking him to release -George Santos,” Jost quipped, referring to the president’s decision to commute the disgraced former congressman’s seven-year prison sentence.

The joke drew laughter as Jost then poked fun at Santos’s reputation for exaggeration.

“Santos says that he’s a changed man and even released a photo of his new prison body,” he deadpanned as a doctored image of a bodybuilder version of Santos flashed onscreen.

They also made fun of Trump's “I think I’m not maybe heaven-bound" remark. 

SNL skewers Trump over Time Magazine cover

Michael Che followed up with a jab at Trump’s recent rant against Time magazine, which featured the president on its cover in an awkwardly angled shot.

“President Trump criticized Time Magazine for using a bad picture of him on the cover, saying, 'they disappeared my hair,'” Che said, as a close-up of Trump’s neck drew laughs from the studio audience. “And I gotta agree, that thing do look waxed.”

Trump had fumed on Truth Social over the cover image, writing, “They disappeared my hair and then had something floating on top of my head that looked like a floating crown, but an extremely small one.”

“Really weird! I never liked taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a super bad picture and deserves to be called out. What are they doing and why?” he added.

He branded the picture “the Worst of All Time,” a jab at the magazine’s design choice.

SNL addresses the Bolton indictment 

Jost also took aim at the Trump administration’s Justice Department's indictment of former National Security Advisor John Bolton, calling it another twist in the president’s pattern of targeting alleged perceived adversaries.

“Bolton has become the third person on President Trump’s enemies list to be indicted,” Jost noted.

“And you know you aren’t living your life right when you keep an actual list of your enemies. At least, that’s what my therapist told me. So now she’s on the list, too,” he humorously added.

Jost and Che also made fun of Trump’s defense of Santos 

Trump’s commutation of George Santos’s sentence has sparked widespread political chatter.

Santos, who began serving time in July at a federal prison in New Jersey, was released immediately following the president’s order.

“George Santos was somewhat of a ‘rogue,’ but there are many rogues throughout our country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“He has been horribly mistreated. Therefore, I just signed a commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY. Good luck George, have a great life!” he wrote.