Trump says he has no tapes of Comey
Absence of tapes elevates significance of ex-FBI chief’s notes
President Trump says he does not have tapes of his private conversations with then-FBI Director James Comey, finally ending a mystery of his own creation.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday he “did not make” and doesn’t have any recordings of his private conversations with ousted FBI Director James Comey, speaking up on Twitter after a monthlong guessing game that began with him delivering an ominous warning and ended with his administration ensnared in more scandal.
“With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information,” Trump said he has “no idea” whether there are “tapes” or recordings of the two men’s conversations. But he declared he “did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.”
The saga began in May, just days after Trump fired Comey, who was then leading an investigation into contacts before and after the election between the president’s campaign and Russian officials. Trump disputed Comey’s version of a January dinner during which Comey said Trump had asked for a pledge of loyalty.
The president responded with an unmistakable threat, tweeting that Comey “better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”
An angry missive
But what appears to have started as an angry, or perhaps mischievous missive triggered a series of consequences each weightier than the last. Ultimately the cryptic comment resulted in the appointment of a special counsel who is now reportedly investigating Trump’s own actions in a probe that has dogged his presidency.
At a Senate committee hearing this month, Comey suggested that the president’s reference to possible recordings inspired him to disclose to the media through an intermediary a memo he had written of an Oval Office conversation from February. In that meeting, according to the memo, Trump asked Comey to consider dropping an investigation into the former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.
One week after the memo was disclosed, the Justice Department appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to take over the investigation into contacts between Russia and the Trump political campaign.
The absence of recordings almost certainly elevates in significance to investigators the notes made by Comey at the time. Those notes, shared with close associates and testified about to Congress, would likely be weighed by investigators against Trump’s own account of the conversations in any investigation that looks into whether the president tried to obstruct justice.
Trump’s earlier suggestion about tapes evoked the secret White House recordings that led to Richard Nixon’s downfall in the Watergate scandal. Under a post-Watergate law, the Presidential Records Act, recordings made by presidents belong to the people and can eventually be made public. Destroying them would be a crime.
Played media ‘like a fiddle’
But Trump had steadfastly refused to clarify whether any tapes existed. Two weeks ago, he teased reporters by saying that he’d explain “maybe sometime in the very near future.” He cryptically added: “You are going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer.”
This is not the first time that the former star of reality TV has manufactured a melodrama that begins with bluster but often ends with a whimper.
“I think the president has played the media like a fiddle for two and a half years,” said Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on Thursday.