John Oliver calls out Trump for using 'incompetence as a defense' in Russia probe

John Oliver has a name for the U.S. president's defense tactic: the Trump card.

In a segment from Sunday's Last Week Tonight, the host dove into the ongoing Russia probe, which has already led to indictments against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his business partner Rick Gates and to former Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos pleading guilty to lying to the FBI.

"In all three cases, Trump's pushback has basically been, 'I don't know anything about the people I should have known those things about,'" Oliver notes. "That is his signature move. He is playing the Trump card. What I mean by that: He's using his own incompetence as a defense. It's the same way you might excuse the behavior of a dog or a small child."

"We cannot accept the Trump card as his defense here," he continues. "We'd be saying, 'This guy is too dumb to really understand what he's doing so I guess we have no choice but to let him keep being president.' Please, let's not do that."

Watch the segment — which also includes Oliver paying tribute to the victims of the church shooting in Texas — above.

Last Week Tonight airs Sundays at 11 p.m. on HBO.