Stephen Colbert tore into President Donald Trump’s reported $1 billion buy-in for a new, loosely defined international group Trump is calling the “Board of Peace,” joking the price sounded even more outrageous when compared to Paramount’s controversial settlement tied to the president.
On Thursday, Jan. 22, Trump, 79, appeared with a small group of world leaders as he signed the charter creating the Board of Peace — a new international body he says will address global conflicts, with Trump positioned as its inaugural chairman.
The ceremony took place during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Trump offered few specifics about what the board will actually do, but said it would work with the United Nations “to ensure peace in the Middle East,” while also hinting at broader ambitions, according to CBS News.
Joining the charter reportedly comes with a staggering $1 billion membership fee, though multiple outlets said it remains unclear where that money would go or how it would be used.
So far, few Western nations have shown interest in joining. The group is reportedly made up largely of countries in the Middle East, Asia, and South America.
Countries said to have accepted Trump’s invitation, according to CNN, include Albania, Argentina, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Mongolia, Morocco, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
Trump has also stocked the board’s executive ranks with a slate of high-profile appointees: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio; U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff; Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner; former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair; billionaire businessman Marc Rowan; World Bank Group president Ajay Banga; and U.S. deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel. The board, Trump has indicated, will be chaired by him indefinitely.
During his monologue that same night on The Late Show, Colbert, 61, called the board’s entry price “a little steep,” then pivoted to a pointed shot at his own corporate home — saying Trump got obedience from CBS for far less.
“Why, you may ask, is this even happening? Good question, me,” Colbert said, before arguing the board’s mission overlaps with the United Nations’ purpose of maintaining international peace and security. “So, Trump is literally just doing model UN.”
Colbert then landed his punchline: “Now, admittedly, the idea of paying a billion dollars to obey Donald Trump seems a little steep. After all, CBS got to do it for just 16 million.”
Colbert has repeatedly criticized CBS’ decision to settle a lawsuit with Trump for $16 million, money that is expected to go toward Trump’s future presidential library.
Just days before CBS announced that The Late Show would be canceled after its current season, Colbert had blasted the network’s parent company over the settlement. The lawsuit stemmed from Trump’s claims that 60 Minutes deceptively edited a 2024 interview with his election opponent, Kamala Harris.
“I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles: it’s ‘big, fat bribe,’” Colbert said on the show last July.
Later, Colbert revealed his program would end, with CBS saying the move was “purely a financial decision.”
Trump celebrated the news on Truth Social, writing that he “absolutely love[d]” Colbert being fired, before adding, “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.”
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