Jimmy Kimmel Tears Into 'Criminal', 'Dictator' Trump Says Venezuela Invasion A Distraction From Epstein Files-Watch

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Comedian Jimmy Kimmel tore into Donald Trump in the latest episode of his show, calling the US President a "dictator" trying to distract the American public from the Epstein files by invading Venezuela and capturing its leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife.

Kimmel's comments came as he returned to the late-night show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! on 5 January, by which time the US had already invaded Venezuela and captured Maduro.

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"Donald Trump did so much crazy stuff over the last two weeks, it would take a nine-part Ken Burns documentary series to cover it all, but I'm going to do my best to boil it down," Kimmel said as he began the year.

Taking a dig at the President for hosting the lowest-rated Kennedy Center Honors telecast, Kimmel went on to suggest that Trump should leave the presidency.

"After boasting about what a great host he is – and how much better he is than I am and how huge his ratings would be – Trump hosted the lowest-rated Kennedy Center Honors telecast of all time," Kimmel said.

“You know. As I recall, he said he would step down if this happened, right? He said, 'If I can't beat out Jimmy Kimmel, then I don't think I should be president.' Well, hey! A deal is a deal! Back to Mar-a-Lago you go!,” the comedian said.

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From his opening remarks, Kimmel went on to address the recent US invasion of Venezuela, calling it a tactic to distract Americans from the scandalous Epstein files.

"If you were wondering how bad these Epstein files are for Trump, turns out, they're 'invade Venezuela' bad,” Kimmel said, with videos of his monologue going viral.

“This is literally the plot of the movie 'Wag the Dog.' The president gets caught in a sex scandal, so he attacks a smaller country to distract us, and here we are, distracted.” the comedian charged, before listing the traits of a "criminal dictator" who led his country to ruin.

"Trump decided Maduro had to go, and yes, he's a criminal and a dictator who's driven his country into financial ruin, while he and his family have lined their own pockets, but Maduro is no saint either," Kimmel said to raucous laughter from the audience.

As videos of the Kimmel's monologue on Trump went viral, netizens had a field day.

"Kimmels comedic timing has improved drastically over the past 10 months (sic)," wrote one user on X.

"No wonder Trump hates Kimmel. Kimmel eviscerates him at every turn," added another.

Meanwhile, a Reddit user opined, "Trump's attempt to silence Kimmel and the resulting boycott of Disney basically gave Kimmel immunity. He's now free to call out Trump for anything and everything, and he won't get pulled off the air."

Kimmel was briefly suspended in late 2025 after his on-air comments about the assassination of right-wing figure Charlie Kirk, but returned shortly afterwards.

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