Trump Tweets He Did Not Record Conversations With Comey, Doesn’t Know if Any Exist
Trump tweeted last month that Comey “better hope” tapes don’t exist.
President Donald Trump has tweeted that he did not record his conversations with former FBI Director James Comey.
Trump tweeted back in May that “Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes'” of conversations between the two men.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/863007411132649473
Thursday, he tweeted that if there were recordings of his conversations with Comey, he was unaware of their existence. Trump also indicated he did not personally record the conversations.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/877932956458795008
From The Hill:
Since the initial tweet, Trump and his staff had evaded questions on whether they secretly recorded the president’s private conversations with Comey.
The existence of such tapes would have been explosive. The discovery of a secret recording system in the White House under then-President Richard Nixon helped trigger his resignation amid the Watergate scandal.
No president since is known to have recorded conversations in the Oval Office.
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Comments
would any POTUS admit to it at this point ?
why would there not be recordings for historical purposes ?
Why not? Richard Nixon, that’s why not. No President would keep tapes of his conversations after that example.
What it means is that when Trump dared Comey, he was bluffing and talking a big game without having anything to back it up. Hmm, I dunno, does that sound like something Donald Trump is capable of doing?
Of course, note that he never said he had any.
Of course, that’s not saying that one of the various domestic or foreign intelligence agencies don’t have recordings.
Given that the Secret Service has said they don’t know of any, that’s life in prison for anyone who pops up with one now.
Tapes per se wouldn’t be a problem. Nixon’s problem was what the tapes recorded him saying. If Trump wasn’t talking about anything illegal or even particularly scummy, then tapes wouldn’t present a threat to him.
The Secret Service said there are none.
Do you have a link for that?
The U.S. Secret Service says it has no records of any recording systems or transcripts of any conversations President Trump may have had in the White House.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/secret-service-says-no-tapes-recordings-of-trump-conversations-exist-in-white-house/
Comey must be banging his head against the wall for being expertly maneuvered into a forced truthful account.
… especially that felonious leak by Comey to the NYT
A fine bit of Presidential level trolling.
And they don’t even realize they’re being trolled.
I have suspected for a long time that Trump’s tweets are meant to keep opponents chasing their tails. I used similar tactics in high stake business negotiations, with considerable success.
More obstruction of the investigation by Trump.
You forgot your SNARK tag.
Trump sure has a wicked sense of humor. The MSM will spend the rest of June chasing their tails over this one.
Trump scared the crap out of Comey. This forced Comey to go into the hearing and confirm the truth. The truth that he told Trump, 3 TIMES, that he was not under investigation.
He REALLY knows how to play this game.
DCP
Well played, Mr. President.
You have to remember, Trump is used to the caustic and vicious New York press. He’s no novice to the blame game.
The objectives of his tweets were simple:
1) Before Comey’s hearing, he implied that there *might* be recordings out there, which forced Comey to hew as close to the truth as he was able. (Increased uncertainty) Because if Comey made crap up, he faced the possibility of having a recording with his *own voice* played back-to-back every night against his sworn testimony. Besides, there might actually have been some recording out there, either done by Comey himself or a staff member.
2) Now that Comey’s hearing is over, and what he has said has stabilized with no additional hedging or addendums, Trump can come out and reduce the uncertainty level rather than have the press chasing rabbits about mysterious White House tapes, et al.
3) In accordance with his history, expect another rabbit-chasing tweet from Trump in the near future, which will send the press baying off into the woods again, as they tend to do everytime.
Fake news is trolled again. They have been saying for two years, Trump is an idiot. Seems to me the fake news and beltway elites are the ones showing what educated idiots they really are.
Former FBI director James Comey made a quiet visit to The New York Times on Thursday, one of few public outings since he admitted leaking stories to the newspaper about President Trump before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8.
They’ve likely offered him positions as their new “Official Anonymous Source” and “Innuendo Editor”!
He’s suddenly remembering things he forgot before.
Now watch. Comey will start remembering stuff he forgot to mention before, then along comes Trump and says he forgot that he actually did tape those meetings. Play the tapes and Comey is caught lying.
The discovery of a secret recording system in the White House under then-President Richard Nixon helped trigger his resignation amid the Watergate scandal.
If this wasn’t meant to imply that Nixon installed the Oval Office recording system then it’s very poorly written. If it was meant to imply this then it’s an outright falsehood. The system was installed by JFK, used throughout LBJ’s presidency, and Nixon continued to use it. There was never any scandal about conversations being recorded; this was perfectly lawful and accepted. The problem it caused was that when investigators wanted to know what was said at a meeting they could just subpoena the tape. Hence Rosemary Woods and the infamous missing 18 minutes.