Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters she has “no idea” whether there is a taping system in place in the West Wing.
White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters she has “no idea” whether there is a taping system in place in the West Wing.
When questioned on whether there were recordings of President Trump’s meetings during a press briefing Thursday, Sanders facetiously replied: “Sure, I’ ll try to look under the couches.”
The exchange came amid former FBI Director James Comey’s voluntary testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which touched on Trump’s request that he end an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, the President’s alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 election and the potential existence of recorded meetings in the Oval Office.
Back in May, Trump fired off a tweet that seemed to take aim at Comey, warning him against sharing information with the media in the wake of his termination.
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“James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversation before he starts leaking to the press!”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who described Comey as “big” and “strong” while questioning him on the Flynn investigation Thursday, wondered why he did not have the strength to directly tell the president that his request to end the probe was inappropriate.
“Maybe if I were stronger, I would have. I was so stunned by the conversation that I just took it in, ” Comey said in response, adding he was busy trying to retain everything the President was saying so that he could write it down in a memo afterward.
“And look, I’ ve seen the tweet about the tapes. Lordy, I hope there are tapes.”
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Rep. Adam Schiff echoed the sentiment in a tweet after Comey’s testimony.
“If there are indeed tapes of Comey’s conversations, ” he wrote, “they need to be preserved and made immediately available to Congress and Mueller.”
With News Wire Services
