Trump Claims No Recordings of Conversations with Comey

Susan Hennessey

Thursday, June 22, 2017, 1:20 PM

On May 12, following the dismissal of FBI Director James Comey, President Trump tweeted:

James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017

Susan Hennessey

@Susan_Hennessey

Meet The Authors

Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With

Subscribe to Lawfare

On May 12, following the dismissal of FBI Director James Comey, President Trump tweeted:

James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017

Today, following weeks of White House obfuscation on the question of whether such tapes actually existed, Trump has again taken to Twitter to assert that they do not.

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

Susan Hennessey

@Susan_Hennessey

Susan Hennessey was the Executive Editor of Lawfare and General Counsel of the Lawfare Institute. She was a Brookings Fellow in National Security Law. Prior to joining Brookings, Ms. Hennessey was an attorney in the Office of General Counsel of the National Security Agency. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of California, Los Angeles.