The White House formally responded Friday to the House Intelligence Committee’s request to hand over any recordings or memos of discussions between President Trump and former FBI Director James Comey, by citing Trump’s recent tweets, where he said “I did not make tapes.”
After Trump suggested on Twitter in May that there was a tape of his private talks with Comey, the intelligence committee on June 9 wrote a letter to the White House demanding to receive any recordings.
On Friday, the deadline the intelligence committee gave for the White House to provide answers, Marc Short, the president’s legislative affairs assistant, wrote back, referencing Trump’s tweets.
Short notably called the tweets a “statement.” There has been inconsistency to how members in the White House have characterized the significance of Trump’s tweets. However, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said earlier this month that Trump’s tweets are “official statements.”
“In response to the committee’s inquiry, we refer you to President Trump’s June 22, 2017, statement regarding this matter,” Short wrote to Reps. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., of the intelligence committee.
Trump, in two separate tweets Thursday, said:
“With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea … whether there are ‘tapes’ or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.”
