First 'SNL' Sketch of 2024 Mocks Donald Trump’s Lawyers, Court Cases, and Presidential Campaign

Saturday Night Live's 2024 season began with a satire on former POTUS Donald Trump's current court disputes and presidential candidacy in the upcoming elections in November. The sketch opened with Trump's attorney, Alina Habba, played by Chloe Fineman, standing outside of a fictitious New York City courtroom. In a very funny impression of Habba, she criticized the judge in the former President's defamation suit, calling the ruling 'very unfair.'

A little context for those who may need it: a jury was gathered last week in a defamation trial held in New York City to decide the amount of damages that the former President must pay for disparaging longstanding advice columnist E. Jean Carroll after he was found liable for sexual abuse in the 1990s at a retail shop in New York City, reported The Hill. “And I want to make this perfectly clear, I am new at this and I am learning,” Fineman said, playing Habba, Trump's lawyer. “Now, the president may or may not stop for brief remarks, but due to a strict gag order, he will not be commenting on anything pertaining to this case, Miss Carroll, or the judge.”

Shortly after, James Austin Johnson (playing Trump) arrived and promptly made fun of his own legal staff. “You’re great on TV,” he said. “Maybe the worst lawyer I’ve ever had, which is quite an accomplishment. Look at this team... This is the bottom of the barrel, folks; this is who said yes. I’m in the lead for president, and this is the best I can get. Feels like a red flag, no?”

Now, after Trump made false statements about his New York trial judge's chief law clerk, the court in Trump's separate civil fraud trial in New York issued a gag order in October, preventing the former president and his attorney from discussing the trial judge's personnel in public.

Later, Trump was fined $10,000 for breaking the directive. After the actors playing Trump's attorneys behind him dispersed, Johnson said that he would "abide by this horrible gag order" and discussed the matter, which is against the terms of the order. “So I will not be saying that the judge is an idiot or where he lives or what kind of crappy car he drives,” he said.

Johnson finally shifted the conversation to the 2024 race, in which Trump is still the front-runner for the Republican Party in a field that now consists only of himself, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley. Johnson cited Trump's victory in last week's Iowa caucuses when he remarked, "We just got back from Iowa, where we won. Very big, very big in Iowa.”

“I want to congratulate Mr. DeSantis on a truly embarrassing showing,” Johnson continued. “He went to 99 counties, but b**** couldn’t win one. Ron DeStupid, Ron DeStupid. It just works.” Johnson continued by congratulating biotech Vivek Ramaswamy, who withdrew from the race after the Iowa caucuses and endorsed Trump. “[Ramaswamy] dropped out of the race and has agreed to live in my suit pocket. I love my little ‘Ratatouille,'” Johnson said, making fun of Ramaswamy's idolization of Trump.