Former FBI director James Comey stopped short of making a federal case out of President Trump’s sense of humor – but he did perform a Google search in pursuit of proof of the president laughing.
Comey describes in his new book how it struck him during an awkward dinner with Trump – where shrimp scampi was on the menu but the conversation ranged from Russian prostitutes to Clinton emails – that the president rarely laughs in public.
‘I don’t recall seeing him laugh, ever,’ Comey wrote. ‘Not during small talk before meetings. Not in a conversation Not even here, during an ostensibly relaxed dinner.’
While drafting his new book, ‘A Higher Loyalty,’ Comey did his own Internet search to scout for videos of a laughing Trump.
SAD! Former FBI director James Comey searched the Internet to find footage of President Trump laughing, and mostly came up short
‘I suspect his apparent inability to do so is rooted in deep insecurity, his inability to be vulnerable or to risk himself by appreciating the humor of others, which, on reflection, is really very sad in a leader, and a little scary in a president,’ Comey wrote.
He says he googled it and scrolled through YouTube videos.
‘In all my searching I found one video of something that could be called Donald Trump exhibiting a laugh, and a mean one at that,’ he writes.
He then references a January 2016 campaign event where it sounds like a dog barks in the background and someone shouts: ‘It’s Hillary,’ sending Trump into bouts of laughter.
DID YOU TRY HIM AT HOME? President Donald Trump laughs during a town hall meeting with executives on the America business climate in the South Court Auditorium of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, April 4, 2017
PRAY IT AIN’T SO: Comey did his own Internet search to try to confirm his hypothesis
NO LAUGHING MATTER: Comey calls the inability to laugh something he considers ‘very sad’ in a leader.
IT’S A CINCH: Republican presidential candidates retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and businessman Donald Trump share a laugh during a break in the Republican Presidential Debate, hosted by CNN, at The Venetian Las Vegas on December 15, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada
OPEN WIDE: President Donald Trump laughs alongside Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R) as they attend the Friends of Ireland Luncheon for the visit of Taoiseach of Ireland Enda Kenny at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, March 16, 2017
Comey makes the observation in his book, ‘A Higher Loyalty’
‘There’s a risk I’m overinterpreting this,’ Comey writes, adding it’s possible Trump keeps people ‘in stitches’ in private.
But he says he suspects it is a sign of Trump’s ‘deep insecurity, his inability to be vulnerable or to risk himself by appreciating the humor of others,’ something he calls ‘very sad’ in a leader.
Business Insider unearthed another clip of Trump laughing – this time when an audience member yelled out ‘Slick Willie,’ in reference to Bill Clinton.
Trump also cracked a joke in the Oval Office as he called Comey over for a handshake while cameras rolled, though it was somewhat at Comey’s expense.
‘He’s become more famous than me,’ Trump quipped, to laughter.