Do tapes exist of Trump’s meetings with Comey?
Trump: I’ll tell you about that “sometime in the very near future” https://t.co/LrkUk6LyTv
— CNN (@CNN) June 9, 2017
During a joint press conference from the White House Rose Garden with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Donald Trump mostly ignored American reporters’ questions about James Comey’s testimony. While the president and his allies have latched onto the former FBI director’s admitted leaking, Trump hadn’t said much about the existence of “tapes” he threatened Comey with previously on Twitter. However, he did offer a few comments on Comey, the supposed tapes, and whether or not he would testify under oath for special counsel Robert Mueller’s expanding Russia probe.
“Yeah, well I’ll tell you about that maybe sometime in the very near future,” the president told a reporter who asked him whether tapes of his conversations with Comey actually existed. “In the meantime, no collusion, no obstruction [and] he’s a leaker. We want to get back to running our great country.” When pressed again by another reporter, Trump insisted he wasn’t “hinting” about anything, saying, “I’ll tell you about it over a very short period of time.” He also stressed everyone interested in the tapes would be “very disappointed when [they] hear the answer.”
Though Trump did admit he was “one hundred percent” willing to testify under oath, however, that didn’t stop the Devin Nunes-less House Intelligence Committee from requesting any and all tapes of the president’s conversations with Comey for their own Russia investigation. According to Politico, ranking members Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) formally asked White House counsel Don McGahn to confirm whether or not such tapes existed on Friday. And if Trump’s tweeted threat doesn’t turn out to be complete bullsh*t, the House Intel Committee wants the tapes by Friday, June 23rd.
Including the House Oversight Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee, Conway and Schiff’s request is the fourth such governmental investigative body to request copies of Comey’s notes and memos as well. Trump’s personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, has meanwhile announced his intention to file an official complaint with the Justice Department regarding Comey’s admitted leaking.