Trump warning to FBI director prompts questions on ‘tapes’
WASHINGTON: The suggestion that US President Donald Trump may be surreptitiously recording his meetings or telephone calls added a twist at the end of a week that roiled Washington.
Trump on Friday warned James Comey, the FBI director he fired this week, against leaking anything negative about him, saying that Comey “better hope” that there are no secret tapes of their conversations that the president could use in retaliation.
Trump and his spokesman later refused to say whether he tapes his visitors, something Trump was suspected of doing when he was in business in New York. “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Trump appeared to be referring to an article in The New York Times that said he had asked Comey to pledge loyalty during a dinner at the White House shortly after the inauguration, only to be rebuffed by the FBI director who considered it inappropriate.
Democrats were incredulous. “For a president who baselessly accused his predecessor of illegally wiretapping him, that Mr. Trump would suggest that he, himself, may have engaged in such conduct is staggering,” said the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
The top Democrats on the judiciary and oversight committees sent a letter to the White House demanding copies of any recordings. The letter noted that “it is a crime to intimidate or threaten any potential witness with the intent to influence, delay or prevent their official testimony.”