US President Donald Trump admitted yesterday he did not have recordings of his private meetings with fired FBI director James Comey, after maintaining the explosive claim of secret Oval Office tapes for weeks.
“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 said on Twitter.
The admission threw a new twist into allegations, fueled by Comey’s own claims, that Trump sought to stifle the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation into possible collusion between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian interference in last year’s election.
Those allegations are believed to now be part of an independent Justice Department prosecutor’s probe into possible illegal obstruction of the investigation by the president.
Trump’s tweet came after weeks of challenges to the White House to prove the assertion that he might have recordings of his private conversations with his former FBI chief, whom he fired on May 9.
Facing a slew of criticism for sacking the man investigating the Russia scandal, Trump warned Comey there could be retribution if he revealed anything of their private conversations.
“James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” Trump tweeted on May 12.
That claim quickly raised concerns that Trump, like some US presidents in the past, was secretly recording all of his conversations in the White House.
And it took on more weight when Comey leaked out his own private memorandums of several discussions with trump, in which he described the president as improperly pressuring him over the Russia probe.
In a June 8 hearing in Congress, Comey described several meetings with Trump and said he in fact hoped the tapes do exist, as they would support his description of their discussions.
“I’ve seen the tweet about tapes. Lordy, I hope there are tapes,” he told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Meanwhile Democrats had demanded Trump come up with the tapes as they sought support for allegations of illegal obstruction of the Russia probe.
On June 9, Democrats sitting on the House Intelligence Committee that is investigating Russian interference in the election and possible Trump campaign collusion demanded the White House turn over any tapes of Comey discussions by June 23.
“Deadline to turn over any tapes of Comey conversations to House Intel — if they exist — is Friday. Time is running out for WH to comply,” Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the committee, said in a tweet early yesterday.
President Donald Trump offered support for emerging technologies including unmanned aerial vehicles and next-generation wireless networks in a meeting yesterday with the chiefs of AT&T Inc and General Electric Co and other business leaders.
The White House brought together venture capitalists and executives from the telecommunications and drone, or unmanned aerial system, industries to discuss how the government can speed technologies to market.
The meeting, which lasted more than three hours including breakout sessions, is part of Trump’s effort to tap industry experts on how to boost US competitiveness in various fields and create jobs.
On Monday, Trump met with the heads of 18 US technology companies including Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp, seeking their help to make the government’s computing systems more efficient. He will meet with energy industry leaders next week.
“We want them to create new companies and lots of jobs,” Trump told the executives yesterday.”We’re going to give you the competitive advantage that you need.”
President Trump speaks at the rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
