Trump’s spokesman would nothing else say about the tweet that insinuated the president had recorded his talks with James Comey after lawmakers threatened to subpoena them.
The White House would not say Monday whether the president taped conversations with his FBI director that he would be providing to Congress.
Trump’s spokesman said he had nothing else to say about the tweet that insinuated the president had recorded his talks with James Comey.
‘I think I made it clear last week that the president has nothing further on that, ‘ Sean Spicer curtly told a reporter during his daily briefing. ‘I said, I was very clear, the president will have nothing further on that, ‘ Spicer said.
Lawmakers said Sunday that Trump could count on a subpoena if the suggestion that he had tapes of their talks turned out to be true.
The White House repeatedly refused to say definitively on Friday, and again on Monday, that Trump did or did not record the discussions.
The president had said in a Friday tweet that Comey ‘better hope that there are no “tapes” of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!’
The tweet added an entirely new dimension to the shock firing that the White House had already been struggling to explain.
Trump said the firing had nothing to do with the FBI’s Russia investigation in a letter he sent Comey informing him that he’d been canned. On three separate occasions, Trump says the FBI official told him he was not being investigated.
Comey and Trump had dinner once, and talked on the phone twice, before the law enforcement official was fired, the White House has said.
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Sunday he would be surprised if Comey had actually said that.
He also claimed Comey told him the dinner was Trump initiated, and he felt uncomfortable attending, given his bureau’s supposed independence.
Spicer was unable to say Friday whether Comey or Trump asked for the meeting the president previously said was at the request of his flailing FBI director.
He said Monday he had not spoke to the president about it yet, even though he had three days to do it.
The president’s spokesman wouldn’t entertain questions on the tapes, and shut down a reporter asking whether Trump would comply with a subpoena.
‘I made it clear what the president’s position was on that issue, ‘ he hollered at her.
DOJ is currently interviewing replacements for the position, and the White House has been tight-lipped about the president’s preferences.
Trump suggested Saturday that he could send a nomination to the Senate before he leaves Friday on a his first foreign trip.
He told reporters Monday that the search is ‘moving rapidly’ but that was it.
