WASHINGTON â Did President Donald Trump make up a friend?
Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump mentioned a friend named Jim while criticizing immigration policies in Europe and linking them to increased terrorist attacks, particularly those in France.
He brought up Jim again while speaking at a conservative conference in February. Jim used to love visiting the City of Light, Trump said, but stopped going because he felt like âParis is no longer Paris.â
Trump made sure to note that Jim is âa very, very substantial guy.â But Jim may be the opposite of âvery, very substantial.â
Trump headed to Paris on Thursday, which prompted an Associated Press report on whether Jim is real. The outlet concluded that âwhether Jim exists is unclear.â
Earlier this year, The New Yorker also tried to find Jim, to no avail. Lauren Collins, the magazineâs Paris correspondent, ran through some people named Jim who were affiliated with Trump and might be the friend in question.
Trump doesnât follow any Jims on Twitter. But itâs easy to find Jims with whom heâs crossed paths. Jim Kelly, formerly of the Buffalo Bills? âNo, that would not be Jim Kelly,â a representative said. Jim Dolan, the C.E.O. of Cablevision and the chairman of Madison Square Garden, who lent Trump the Rockettes for his inaugural concert? âThatâs not him,â his spokesperson responded. Jim Furyk, the golfer? âNot him,â according to his agent. Jim Davis, the footwear mogul, whose support for Trump prompted a hate Web site to declare New Balance âthe Official Shoes of White Peopleâ? âNo, it is not Jim Davis,â a company P.R. manager replied. Jim Inhofe, the senator and climate-change denier, did not respond; neither did Jim McNerney, the former Boeing executive, who is part of the Presidentâs Kitchen Cabinet. Jim Mattis, the âWarrior Monkâ general, doesnât have a wife. James Comeyâdoes anybody know if he goes by Jim?
The result: ZĂ©ro.
Perhaps it is not surprising that Trump â who once claimed that âan extremely credible sourceâ said then-President Barack Obamaâs birth certificate was âa fraudâ and prefaces many questionable assertions with âmany people are sayingâ â would cite a fake friend.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the then-real estate mogul was known for calling up news outlets while posing as his own spokesman, assuming identities like âJohn Barronâ (sometimes spelled âBaronâ) and âJohn Miller.â (Some people have speculated that his youngest son, Barron, may have been named after this fake representative.)
This practice may have come from the presidentâs father, according to Trump biographer Michael DâAntonio, who wrote in 2015 that Fred Trump sometimes posed as a âMr. Green.â
Trump has also used fabricated anecdotes to explain policy positions. To justify his unsubstantiated claim that 3 million to 5 million people voted illegally in last yearâs election, which then spawned his highly controversial voter fraud commission, Trump claimed that German golfer Bernhard Langer told him about âvoters who did not look as if they should be allowed to voteâ at his Florida polling place.
But Langer pushed back on the story, saying it was âmisconstrued.â The golferâs daughter told The New York Times that the incident could not have happened because Langer isnât a U.S. citizen, and was himself ineligible to vote in the election. She added that her father âis not a friend of President Trumpâs, and I donât know why he would talk about him.â
Mentions of âJimâ even drew mockery from Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who addressed a tweet âto Donald and his friend Jim.â
In another tweet for âDonald & Jim,â Hidalgo pointed out that American tourism to Paris increased by 30 percent in the first part of 2017.
Jim was the subject of a question later Thursday, at Trumpâs joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. A French reporter referred to Trumpâs friend when asking whether the president stood by his comments about the city.
âA few months ago, you mentioned a friend, Jim, who told you that âParis is no longer Paris.â You were implying at the time that Paris was not safe anymore,â the reporter told Trump.
Trump nodded at the mention of Jim, but did not refer to him in his answer. He said instead that he was impressed by both Paris and Macronâs leadership, and that he would love to return to the city.
âI really have a feeling that youâre going to have a very, very peaceful and beautiful Paris, and Iâm coming back,â Trump said, before turning to Macron and telling him to âdo a good job, please. Otherwise youâre going to make me look very bad.â
The White House did not return HuffPostâs request for comment on whether Jim exists.
This article has been updated with Trumpâs comments from Thursday.