Seth Meyers cheerfully previews James Comey's 'terrible Tinder date' testimony on Trump

Former FBI Director James Comey's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday has consumed Washington, the White House, and apparently President Trump's legislative agenda, Seth Meyers said on Wednesday's Late Night, mocking Trump for holding an elaborate ceremony to sign a memo on Monday. Well, Comey Christmas came early, because the Senate released Comey's opening statement Wednesday afternoon, "and it contains some damning and truly bizarre details about Comey's uncomfortable interactions with Trump," Meyers said.

The first "weird" detail is the number of interactions — Comey says he met twice with former President Barack Obama over Obama's entire two terms, but Trump "would not leave him alone," Meyers said, calling Comey or meeting with him nine times in just four months. One of those meetings was that "infamous dinner" where Trump apparently demanded loyalty — and it turns out, "Comey had no idea the meeting would be a private, one-on-one encounter," he said. "This is starting to sound less like All the President's Men and more like a Lifetime original movie — 'James Comey and Donald Trump star in Suspicious Attraction.'" And when Comey recounted the awkward conversations, loyalty bargaining, and word games, their dinner "sounds like a terrible Tinder date," Meyers said.

He ran through the other highlights of Comey's prepared testimony, including when Trump allegedly told Comey that he "had not been involved with hookers in Russia" and asked how he could "lift the cloud" from his administration. Meyers had a suggestion: "Well, the first thing you could do is not call people out of nowhere and say 'I was not involved with hookers in Russia.'"

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

He ended by wondering aloud if Trump will live-tweet Comey's testimony, looking at how congressional Republicans are dealing with Trump's tweeting, and recapping the intra-White House fight over whether Trump's tweets are official statements. Sean Spicer says yes. "It's so great how often the press secretary has to say the president is the president," Meyers said. "It's like he needs to remind himself or get confirmation." Watch below. Peter Weber