Michelle Obama and former President Bill Clinton were all smiles as they sat in the front pew at the Washington National Cathedral before the start of the funeral service for former President George Bush.
Bush died Friday of natural causes at age 94.
Mrs. Obama and Clinton shared jokes in a lighthearted moment as mourners awaited the arrival of Bush’s coffin on Wednesday.
But her smile evaporated when President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, arrived and took their seats in the front row.
Michelle’s facial expression was frozen as the Trumps sat next to her husband, former President Barack Obama, during the funeral service for the nation’s 41st President.
The Obamas sat stone faced next to the Trumps. Observers noted that one could “cut the tension with a knife.”
In an effort to break the ice, Bush, the 43rd President, passed a peppermint to the former First Lady, who finally cracked a smile.
Bush paused to shake hands with the Trumps, Bill and Hillary Clinton, the Obamas and former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, before slipping the treat to Michelle, whose face lit up with a smile.
The sweet moment mirrored a similar gesture at the funeral for Sen. John McClain in September, when Bush passed a cough drop to Michelle
In November, Mrs. Obama told Oprah she cried for 30 minutes after President Trump’s Inauguration in January 2017. Michelle said she stopped smiling during the Inauguration because she couldn’t fake it anymore.
She told Oprah she broke down crying on the plane after Trump’s swearing-in ceremony.
“When I got on the plane, I sobbed for 30 minutes,” she said. “I think it was just the release of eight years trying to do everything perfectly.”
“I said to Barack, ‘That was so hard, what we just did. That was so hard.'”
