Update: President Trump confirms he did not make a tape of his conversation…
With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2017
…whether there are “tapes” or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2017
* * *
Having teased the world, and bluffed Comey and his Democratic Party supporters about the possibility of recordings of his conversations with the former FBI Director, Bloomberg reports that a ‘source familiar with the matter’ confirms that President Trump does not have any tapes.
Trump raised the possibility of tapes in a strategic fashion to ensure that Comey told the truth, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The president has promised to answer the question soon. He ended a news conference on June 9 with a cliff-hanger about the tapes:
“I’ll tell you about that over a very short period of time.”
He said in the same news conference that reporters would be disappointed with his answer — suggesting that there are no tapes.
This ‘source’ follows earlier comments from Trump confidant Newt Gingrich who noted…
“I think he was in his way instinctively trying to rattle Comey,” says former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a longtime Trump confidant.
“He’s not a professional politician. He doesn’t come back and think about Nixon and Watergate. His instinct is: ‘I’ll outbluff you.'”
All of which sound remarkably like the ‘source’ that Bloomberg quotes.
