Trump Accuses Comey of Lying Under Oath and Suggest That There are Recorded Tapes
President Donald Trump refused to say that recorded tapes of his meeting with former FBI Director James Comey exist, but hinted that there may or may not be recorded tapes.
“I’ll tell you something about that maybe sometime in the very near future,” Trump said when asked about the purported existence of the tapes during a joint news conference with the president of Romania at the White House today.
“I’ll tell you about it over a short period of time. I’m not hinting at anything,” he said.
Trump was the first person to suggest that there may be recordings of his conversations with Comey after tweeting that Comey should be afraid of the possible recordings being released.
“James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” Trump wrote in a May 12 tweet.
Trump also denied ever asking Comey to “let” the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn go or asking for Comey’s loyalty, both of which Comey said under oath during testimony at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Thursday.
“I didn’t say that. I will tell you, I didn’t say that,” he told ABC News’ chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl about the Flynn investigation claims. Trump added that he would be willing to state this under oath.
“And there would be nothing wrong if I did say it according to everybody that I read today but I did not say that,” he added.
When asked about the alleged loyalty pledge, Trump denied ever having made such a move.
“I hardly know the man. I’m not going to say I want you to pledge allegiance. What would do that. Who would ask a man to pledge allegiance under oath. Think of that. I hardly know the man,” Trump said.
At a different point during the news conference, Trump criticized Comey’s testimony further.
Trump tweeted earlier today about ‘Comey being a leaker’.
Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication…and WOW, Comey is a leaker!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2017
“In the meantime, no collusion, no obstruction. He’s a leaker. But we want to get back to running our great country. Jobs, trade deficits. We want them to disappear fast. North Korea, big problem. Middle East, a big problem,” Trump said.
Watch: