Politics

Trump: I Did Not Record My Conversations With Comey

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/Kevin Lamarque

Alex Pfeiffer White House Correspondent
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President Donald Trump said Thursday that he never recorded his personal conversations with former FBI Director James Comey after more than a month of media speculation on the subject.

The president tweeted on May 12 after firing Comey that the former FBI director “better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”

Comey said that this tweet inspired him to leak details about his conversations with Trump to the press. The House Intelligence Committee also sent a letter to White House Counsel Don McGahn on June 9 asking whether the tapes exist and, if they do, to turn them over before June 23.

Trump tweeted Thursday: “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.”

Bloomberg was first to report that Trump did not make these recordings. The report cited a source that said Trump made his initial tweet in an effort to force Comey to be honest in Senate testimony.

Correction: Trump made the initial tweet on May 12 not May 9.