U.S. President Donald Trump admitted Thursday he did not record conversations he had with then-FBI director James Comey.
Trump took to social media Thursday afternoon and confirmed he did not make “any such recordings.”
With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea…” the president tweeted. “…whether there are ‘tapes’ or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.”
On May 12, Trump suggested he may have recorded conversations between himself and Comey.
“James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” the president tweeted.
Comey testified earlier this month at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing investigating possible connections between the Trump administration and Russia.
Comey said Trump had asked him to pledge his loyalty to the president and to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Comey said he believes he was fired as a result of the FBI investigation.
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“Guess I don’t know for sure. I believe the — I take the president at his word, that I was fired because of the Russia investigation,” Comey testified while under oath.
Trump had said Comey’s firing was the result of the FBI being in “turmoil.”
“The FBI has been in turmoil. You know that, I know that, everybody knows that. You take a look at the FBI a year ago, it was in virtual turmoil — less than a year ago. It hasn’t recovered from that,” Trump said in an interview with NBC.
Trump had previously said he terminated Comey based on a recommendation from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Comey said during his testimony he “was fired in some way to change, or the endeavour was to change, the way the Russia investigation was being conducted. That is a very big deal, and not just because it involves me.”
Trump lashed out at Comey following the hearing, labelling the ex-FBI boss as a “leaker” after Comey admitted he gave a friend a written memo detailing a meeting he had with the president and asked the friend to give it to a reporter.
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“Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication…and WOW, Comey is a leaker!” Trump tweeted.
“I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter,” Comey said. “Didn’t do it myself for a variety of reasons but I asked him to because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel, so I asked a close friend of mine to do it.”
Comey made reference to Trump’s “tapes” tweet during his testimony.
“Look, I’ve seen the tweet about tapes. Lordy, I hope there are tapes.” Comey said.