Fight on for Comey tapes
DEMOCRATS kept up the pressure on Donald Trump on Sunday over his firing of FBI director James Comey, as members of both parties said the president must turn over any secret recordings of the two men’s conversations.
Trump tweeted on Friday that “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”
White House spokespeople later refused to say whether the president’s conversations were in fact being secretly taped. But Democrats appearing on television on Sunday said the abrupt firing of Comey – who was leading an FBI inquiry into possible Russian meddling in the 2016 election and the Russia links of several Trump associates – amounted to obstruction of justice. They called the president’s tweet a clear attempt at intimidation.
If the current administration did make tapes, Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer told CNN on Sunday, “the president should turn them over immediately, of course. To destroy them would be a violation of law”.
He argued later on NBC that it was important for the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor in the case because such a person would have “the ability to prosecute people for violations of law”.
Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the intelligence committee, said that as his panel continues to investigate the Russia matter, it wants to “make sure those tapes, if they exist, are preserved”.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said that the Judiciary Committee, of which he is a member, needs Comey to appear before it to “clear the air”.
“You can’t be cute about tapes,” the South Carolina lawmaker told NBC. “If there’s tapes of this conversation, they need to be turned over.”
Trump’s tweet, he added, was “inap And while he had no evidence of Russian collusion with the Trump team, Graham said, “the president needs to back off and let the investigation go forward”.
The senator said he was “1 000%” sure that Russia had attempted to interfere with the election but that there was no evidence it had affected the outcome.
Regardless, he said Moscow should be “punished”.
Senator Mike Lee, a conservative Republican and also a member of the Judiciary Committee, told Fox News that it was “probably inevitab that any tapes would have to be turned over.
“If, in fact, there are such recordings, I think those recordings will be subpoenaed and they will probably have to turn them over,” said Lee.
However, Lee gave Trump the benefit of the doubt, saying, “As far as I’m aware, he is fully cooperating and he is willing and eager to see this investigation” through.
Trump said on Saturday that he will nominate a new FBI chief as early as this week. — AFP