| John blogged this NYT story last night about Comey trying to gently discipline Trump about what is and isn’t appropriate to say to the director of the FBI about pending investigations. But he left out the funniest detail, about a gathering at the White House a few days after the inauguration that Comey didn’t want to attend because he feared Trump would try to act too chummy with him. That would be bad optics for the FBI under any circumstances but really bad optics with Democrats howling that Comey had helped Trump win the election.
How could he get the president not to notice him when they’d be in the same room, though? He hit upon an idea:
When I read that, I assumed Comey was joking to Wittes, maybe taking a shot at Trump’s intelligence. I.e. “He’s so dimwitted, I thought I could literally blend into the background right in front of him.” But no, he wasn’t joking. This dude really did stand in front of blue drapes, in a blue suit, as far away from Trump as he could. There he is, all 6’8" of him, trying to be inconspicuous to great comic effect:
I’ve been laughing at that since a Twitter buddy pointed it out last night. You can read it two ways. One: Comey’s really weird, and not as brave as he’d like people to think:
Two: Comey’s really concerned about impropriety, to the point where he’d try to duck a compromising scene with the president by feebly camouflaging himself. The first read undermines Comey’s credibility. The second enhances it: The guy was so nervous about the Bureau’s integrity taking a hit from perceptions that it was in the tank for Trump that he resorted to “vaudeville” to try to protect it. Comey also reportedly thought ahead before his dinner at the White House with Trump a few days later. What do you do when you’re the only one in the room with the president and can’t hide in plain sight? You rehearse:
This was the dinner at which Trump allegedly asked Comey for his “loyalty.” Assuming that’s true, it’s also funny that Comey read Trump’s intentions at the dinner so clearly beforehand, although the comedy in this case is much darker. Here’s the clip of the January 22nd ceremony. Wittes told the Times that Comey “was determined that there wasn’t going to be a hug,” although as you’ll see, Trump did his best to turn the handshake into one. Exit quotation from Wittes: “Comey was disgusted. He regarded the episode as a physical attempt to show closeness and warmth in a fashion calculated to compromise him before Democrats who already mistrusted him.” |
Poster Comment:
This probably belongs in the Humor section.
I'll start off with my own Caption Of The Day for the Comey hide-in-front-of-the-drapes strategy: "Do these drapes make my ass look big?"
You really could not make this stuff up. Comey is one odd duck, no matter how you slice his known record of providing protective cover for the Xlintons and 0bama.