US President Donald Trump seemed to imply that his tweet, about taped conversations with James Comey, was actually a bluff in order to ensure that the former FBI Director remained truthful during his testimony. The President revealed the reasons behind his now infamous tweet during an interview with Fox and Friends. He had hinted as such in a series of tweets yesterday.
A bluff?
After Trump had tweeted about the possibility of taped conversations between Comey and him, there was a widespread belief among many that the President might be making recordings of all his meetings.
After all, why would he tweet about it if he did not actually have a tape? However, Donald Trump has now stated categorically that he does not have any tapes of his conversations with James Comey.
Reiterating what he had said in his tweets yesterday, he said, “I’ve been reading about it for the last couple of months about the seriousness of the horribleness of the situation with surveillance all over the place. So you never know what’s out there, but I didn’t tape, and I don’t have any tape and I didn’t tape.” When he was asked if it was a bluff so that Comey was completely truthful during the course of the interview; he said that it would not be an entirely stupid idea. He went on to say that Comey might have changed his stance when the talk of taped conversations surfaced.
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
Reason behind the comments
When the Russian investigation was being headed by James Comey, he had told Donald Trump privately that he was not being investigated but he refused to say so on record in spite of repeated requests from the President.
That became a bone of contention and eventually led to the split. However, Donald Trump does stand vindicated in this regard since during his testimony Comey did accept that the President was not under investigation.
During the interview, Donald Trump did not spare James Comey's replacement Robert S. Mueller III either. He seemed to suggest that Mueller might have an ax to grind with the President and said that the fact that he is Comey's good friend is very bothersome.
According to a report in the New York Times, Donald Trump seems to have been extremely angry at the appointment of Mueller and had also been open to the possibility of firing him if need be. Mueller has already started looking into the President's son in law's, Jared Kushner, alleged business deals with the Russians and only time will tell how this will all end.
