'Saturday Night Live' pokes fun at Omarosa's White House departure
The show's cold open also ridiculed Jeff Sessions and Jared Kushner
-- This week's "Saturday Night Live" once again found fodder from the latest headlines to lampoon in the show's cold open, including jabs at recently-departed White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman, special counsel Robert Mueller, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner.
Alex Baldwin reprised his role as President Donald Trump, who kicks off the sketch in the Oval Office, alongside Cecily Strong's Melania Trump, saying, "You can finally say [Merry Christmas] again because the War on Christmas is over. Soon to be replaced with the War on North Korea."
WATCH ENTIRE COLD OPEN:
A series of people enter the Oval Office with ornaments to hang on the Christmas tree.
Ivanka Trump, played by Scarlett Johansson, enters the room and explains to Baldwin's Trump why husband Jared Kushner is absent: "He's packing a 'go bag' before the FBI arrives," she says.
Badlwin's Trump says he's going to miss his son-in-law, to which Johansson's first daughter responds, "Yes, me too. I will always remember that one time I heard him talk." That comment is a nod to the real-life fact that Kushner rarely speaks in public.
Johansson's Ivanka tells her father she brought an ornament with defeated Alabama senate candidate Roy Moore's photo on it, to which Baldwin's Trump responds, "Poor Roy, I thought for sure he would win. But 'til he lost. Then I said I always knew he would lose. At least America knows that I finally supported an accused child molester."
At one point in the cold open, Manigault, played by "SNL" cast member Leslie Jones starts banging on the window from the outside, while fighting off Secret Service agents, screaming, "Take me back. I'll always love you. Meanwhile, "The Apprentice" theme song "For the Love of Money" plays from her boom box."
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, played by "SNL" cast member Aidy Bryant, also makes an appearance, as does White House conselor Kellyanne Conway, played by cast member Kate McKinnon.
McKinnon also reprised her role as Sessions, and once again poked fun at his Southern drawl and small stature.
A mini Sessions appears sitting on the mantle, and explains to the Trump and his sons Donald Jr. and Eric (played by cast members Mike Day and Alex Moffat), "I'm not 'Elf on a Shelf.' I'm Jeff Sessions. And whether you're Christian or Jewish ... or that's it, we can all agree it's going to be a Merry Christmas."
Badlwin's Trump asks, "Wait, you're not secretly recording our conversation, are you Jeff?"
McKinnon's Sessions says, "Oh don't worry, I won't snitch. Because I do not recall who has been naughty or who has been nice. I only recall a simpler time when you were judged not by the color of your skin -- but, wait, it was by the color of your skin."
The cold open then takes aim at Robert Mueler.
"I came to ask for a favor Mr. President. Could I put the angel on the tree?" asks McKinnon's Sessions.
"Of course, Jeff, because you've always been my little angel. Plus I'm pretty sure this is your last Christmas in office."
Says McKinnon's Sessions: "Oh boy, Well look this little angel's got Robert Muller's face on it because he's next. You got to cut off the head to kill the snake, and I should know because I'm a mischievous little mongoose."