After alluding to having secret recordings of his conversations with fired FBI Director James Comey, President Trump debunked his own claims on Thursday when he said he had no such recordings.
Trump first raised the possibility of any such tapes on May 12 in response to a series of anonymously sourced stories which claimed, among other things, that Comey was made to feel severely uncomfortable in Trump’s presence during each of their meetings since January.
In response to the stories, no doubt attributed to Comey himself, Trump said that his new adversary might want to watch what he says to the media, lest he be outed in a nefarious way.
“James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”
Still, after having made this claim, Trump refused to reveal any such tapes. After having previously dodged the question several times, as well as having those who represent him dodge media queries, the President denied his earlier claims on Twitter.
Seemingly without reason, the President included his comments about the tapes in a series of tweets
With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2017
…whether there are “tapes” or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2017
Of course, because it was Trump who made the claim in the first place, his denial of having any recordings is not exactly reliable.
Comey no doubt is disappointed to see that Trump is now denying having any tapes, because as he previously said, he welcomed the release of any such tapes in order to clear his name. As it is, the disagreement between the two men will continue to be a he said, he said issue.
