President Donald Trump said Thursday he “did not make” and doesn’t have any recordings of his private conversations with ousted FBI Director James Comey, speaking up on Twitter after a month-long guessing game that began with him delivering an ominous warning and ended with his administration ensnared in small scandal.
“With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information,” Trump said he has “no idea” whether there are “tapes” or recordings of the two men’s conversations. But he declared he “did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.”
The saga began in May, just days after Trump fired Comey, who was then leading an investigation into contacts before and after the election between the president’s campaign and Russian officials. Trump disputed Comet’s version of a January dinner during which Comey said Trump had asked for a pledge of loyalty.
The president responded with an unmistakable threat, tweeting that Comey “better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”
The Associated Press contributed to this article