Comedian Hasan Minhaj blasts Trump, media at correspondents’ dinner

Comedian Hasan Minhaj took on the Trump administration and the reporters who cover it in a sweeping roast of Washington on Saturday during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

In a wide-ranging monologue, the “Daily Show” correspondent poked and prodded President Trump and his top aides, despite their notable absence from the star-studded event.

Trump announced in February that he would not attend the high-profile dinner, bucking decades of tradition. His aides also skipped, standing in solidarity with their boss.

But Trump and his team’s boycott of the annual gala didn’t stop the Comedy Central comedian from tearing into the administration, with jokes alluding to perceived Trump campaign ties to Moscow that are being probed by congressional and FBI investigators.

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“I get it, I get it. We got to address the elephant that’s not in the room,” Minhaj joked. “The leader of our country is not here. And that’s because he lives in Moscow. It is a very long flight. It would be hard for [Russian President Vladimir Putin] to make it.”

“As for the other guy, I think he’s in Pennsylvania because he can’t take a joke,” he said.

Trump held a rally in Harrisburg, Pa., on Saturday evening, a dueling event where he slammed members of the media who attended the dinner in Washington.

“He tweets at 3 a.m. sober. Who is tweeting at 3 a.m. sober?” Minhaj said. “Donald Trump — because it’s 10 a.m. in Russia. Those are business hours.”

It wasn’t only Trump on the receiving end of Minhaj’s roast. The comedian also took aim at several media outlets, including C-SPAN, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.

“It’s almost as if ‘The Daily Show’ should be on C-SPAN,” he said of the Comedy Central show’s frequent jokes about the Trump administration. “It has left zero impact.”

Minhaj also got in a jab at former President Barack Obama, who did not attend the dinner but was present each year while he was office.

“Who would have thought with everything going on in the country right now that a Muslim would be standing on this stage for a ninth year in a row, baby,” Minhaj joked, a reference to unfounded accusations that Obama is a Muslim.

“We had eight years of Barack. What’s another year? I see you fam, I see you Barry. What you doin’ right now? You jet skiing while the world burns?”

But Minhaj’s speech, at times, was more solemn, addressing the importance of free speech and a free press, particularly under a president who has called the media the “enemy of the people.”

“Only in America can a first-generation Indian Muslim kid get on this stage and make fun of the president,” he said. “The orange man behind the Muslim ban.

“Even the president is not beyond the reach of the First Amendment.”