Dems rip Pelosi for Ga. debacle
PRESIDENT TRUMP said Thursday he did not record his conversations with former FBI Director James Comey — but didn’t rule out that tapes might exist.
“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,” Trump tweeted Thursday.
White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wouldn’t expand on Trump’s comments, saying, “I think the President's statement today via Twitter was extremely clear.”
Trump’s tweets came less than 24 hours before the Friday deadline set by the House Intelligence Committee for the White House to hand over any tapes, if they exist — and the committee’s top Democrat said he needs more than tweets.
“Regardless of whether the President intends his tweets to be an official reply to the House Intelligence Committee, the White House must respond in writing to our committee as to whether any tapes or recordings exist,” California Rep. Adam Schiff said Thursday, adding that Trump’s statement “raises as many questions as it answers.”
“If the President had no tapes, why did he suggest otherwise? Did he seek to mislead the public? Was he trying to intimidate or silence James Comey?” the California Democrat asked.
He said he wasn’t willing to take Trump at his tweet. “While I would certainly hope that the President’s most recent statement is true, we will continue to pursue the matter with other witnesses so that the public can be assured that if recordings were ever made, they will be preserved and be made available to the committee and ultimately to the public, as well,” said Schiff (photo below). Trump had raised the possibility of Comey tapes in May when he tweeted the ex-FBI chief “better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” Trump and his reps then refused to say whether he’d recorded his private conversations with Comey, or anyone else, prompting repeated deman ds from the congressional committees investigating any possible collusion between Trump’s team and Russia during the 2016 campaign that he hand over any tapes that exist.
But his statement Thursday does little to quell concerns over whether the tapes exist at all. It remains possible, for example, that tapes were made as part of an internal White House recording system similar to the one used by Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
Earlier this month, Huckabee Sanders told reporters she has “no idea” whether there is a taping system in place in the West Wing.
Comey said it was Trump’s tape tweet that prompted him to leak information through a friend that the President had pressured him to drop a probe into one of his aides. Comey testified he did so in hopes it would lead to the appointment of a special prosecutor — which it did. HOUSE MINORITY Leader Nancy Pelosi defended her leadership, and her job, on Thursday in the face of needling from President Trump and grumbling from fellow House Democrats exasperated after a high-profile special election loss.
“So you want me to sing my praises, is that what you’re saying?” the California lawmaker remarked dismissively to reporters when asked why she should stay on as leader. “Well, I’m a master legislator. I’m a strategic, politically astute leader. ”
Pelosi’s comments came as Democrats remained angry after throwing $30 million into a House race in Georgia, only to end up with a decisive loss.
“If we take back the House in 2018 then I think she’d stay leader,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego (DAriz).