Trump: ‘I did not make, and do not have’ Comey tapes

“With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea whether there are ‘tapes’ or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings,” wrote Trump in a pair of tweets.

Trump appeared to leave open the possibility that recordings of their conversations exist, saying only that he did not create and is not in possession of any such tapes. At a press briefing Thursday, White House principal deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she was not aware of other recordings.

In May, three days after Comey’s firing, Trump wrote: “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”

Asked by ABC News’ Jonathan Karl why Trump played “the game” of raising the matter and waiting over a month to reveal that he did not have tapes, Huckabee Sanders said, “I don’t know that it was a game.”

Trump previously declined to confirm or deny the existence of tapes, even as Comey shared details of his interactions with the president with associates and testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“I’ll tell you about it over a short period of time. I’m not hinting at anything,” said Trump at a joint press conference with the president of Romania on June 9, a day after Comey met with the panel. “You’re going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer,” Trump added.

The same day, a bipartisan group of leaders from the House Intelligence Committee submitted a request to White House counsel Don McGahn to inform the committee – which is conducting its own investigation of Russian election interference — by June 23 whether recordings exist.

The potential existence of recordings of Trump and Comey’s conversations took on increasing importance as the pair offered contradicting claims about the nature of their discussions.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *