No tale of the tape
Prez comes clean on Comey ‘recording’
President Trump admitted on Thursday that he doesn’t have tapes of White House conversations with ousted FBI Director James Comey, ending weeks of speculation about whether the recordings 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.
It was Trump himself who created questions about “tapes” in May, when he fired Comey while the G-man led the FBI investigation into Russia’s meddling in the US presidential election.
Comey recounted a White House meeting he had with Trump in January when he said the president asked him to pledge his loyalty.
Trump disputed that version, saying Comey actually pleaded for his job. Then, on May 12, the president tweeted that Comey “better hope there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations.”
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders wouldn’t comment on why Trump took so long to end the suspense.
“I don’t know that there was a game. He answered the question. He gave a timeline for which he would [answer it], and he did that,” Huckabee Sanders said.
Asked if Trump regrets creating the speculation, Huckabee Sanders replied, “I don’t think so.”
Earlier Thursday, before the president’s admission, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said those who know Trump realize he was bluffing to get under Comey’s skin.
“I think he was in his way instinctively trying to rattle Comey,” Gingrich told The Associated Press. “He’s not a professional politician. He doesn’t come back and think about Nixon and Water- gate. His instinct you.’ ”
But Rep. Adam Schiff, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, which set a Friday deadline to turn over any tapes, charged that Trump was trying to intimidate Comey.
“This raises a lot of questions about why he would suggest in the first place there were tapes, what he hoped to gain from that,” Schiff (D-Calif.) told Bloomberg News, adding it also raises a question about “what lengths he will go to to try to intimidate people from speaking out.”
Trump also claimed that special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating the administration’s ties to Russia, is close with the former FBI director.
“He’s very, very good friends with Comey, which is very bothersome,” he told “Fox and Friends” in an interview airing Friday.
Trump also criticized members of Mueller’s investigative team, saying, “The people that have been hired are all Hillary Clinton supporters.” is: ‘I’ll outbluff