Lyin’ Trump Now Says He Has ‘No Idea’ If There Are Any Recordings of Him and Comey

Six weeks ago Donald Trump created a controversy that crossed several ethical and legal lines. Of course, that’s something he does with such frequency it’s impossible to know which one it is this time. Hint: It involves Twitter (hmm, that doesn’t narrow it down either). Let’s end the suspense. On May 12, Trump tweeted this:

Donald Trump

The immediate response to that was concern that Trump was emulating Richard Nixon and secretly recording conversations in the Oval Office. That, of course, would be a flagrant breach of privacy and protocol. It would make people reluctant to speak candidly when visiting the White House. And it would open the door to numerous legal vulnerabilities for both Trump and his guests.

Ever since that tweet, the nation has pressed Trump to reveal whether or not he was making such recordings. His response was always a smug dodge and eventual refusal to supply an honest answer. That resulted in an ongoing suspicion as to whether he could be trusted in otherwise private conversations.

In addition, the tweet was a blatant threat aimed at former FBI Director James Comey. Trump intended to throw him off balance with the suggestion that the covert taping might contradict his congressional testimony. It didn’t work. Comey’s cheeky reply was “Lordy, I hope there are tapes.” If nothing else, the tweet represented an unambiguous attempt at witness intimidation.

However, on Thursday morning Trump ended the mystery. He posted a couple tweets denying that there was any covert taping going that he was aware of:

Unfortunately, those tweets don’t end the controversy. The first question that has to e asked is: If he has “no idea” whether there are any tapes, then why didn’t he just say that weeks ago? He seems to think that being president is like being a contestant on a reality TV show. He obviously doesn’t believe he has any obligation to be truthful with the public he purportedly serves.

Secondly, with the confession that he didn’t make any recordings, he is affirming that his original comment was in fact witness intimidation. The only purpose of suggesting the existence of such tapes would be to influence Comey’s testimony. It is the behavior of a bully who thinks he can get his way with offhand threats.

Finally, it would be naive to accept Trump’s latest version of events as the gospel truth. His past is littered with so many shameless lies (see the Trump Bullshitopedia) that anyone assuming he’s telling the truth now is too mentally unstable to live outside an institution. It is entirely plausible that he does have tapes, but that they affirm Comey’s testimony and incriminate Trump. Under such circumstances it would behoove him to deny the tapes exist and try to destroy them.

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In any case, Trump’s sudden and dubious confession doesn’t really clear the air. There is still confusion that is entirely the result of his own irresponsible deception and self-serving manipulation. It may still come to pass that recordings are discovered and made public. His own tweet implies that others might have made recordings without his knowledge. That in itself would be evidence of gross negligence for a president. But there is one thing in that regard that is in his favor. Everyone would readily believe that he could be both gross and negligent. Congratulations, Donnie.

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5 thoughts on “Lyin’ Trump Now Says He Has ‘No Idea’ If There Are Any Recordings of Him and Comey

  1. The Liar-in-Chief is caught, well, lying AGAIN,. The only real “talent” he has. I’m not surprised that he can’t produce the tape. I definitely agree with your entire article with respect to “witness intimidation and tampering.” Donald tried to make Comey punk out and lie for him like all these other higher ups in the Intell Community- Pompeo, et.al. Instead Comey showed spine, bravery, backbone, courage under fire, truthfulness and real patriotism. He TOLD WHAT HAPPENED and didn’t shrink from calling out the CorruptRussianAgent Fake President, Trump.

  2. Every day he’s in our Nation’s White House it demeans the Office of the President. It must be repeated every day that he’s the TEA Party Republican’s choice that all Republicans went along with. All Republicans are too blame for all he does, never let them forget it, or expect more of the same.

  3. From Drumpf’s track record, saying there is no tapes means there are tapes and he is lying.

  4. If Trump is saying he has “no idea” whether there are any tapes of his conversation with Comey, while initially saying that Comey better hope there are no tapes of such, then it’s clear that his first tweet about the tapes (the one which even made them an issue in the first place) was him THREATENING Comey and trying to intimidate him. If he didn’t know whether there were any tapes, why would he even tweet such a thing?

    It’s not just bullshitting, it’s a clear and undisguised attempt at bullying and intimidation, Trump was trying to threaten Comey by mentioning tapes which he didn’t even know existed of the conversation. Why else would he say this unless it was to attempt to make Comey feel wary about coming out and talking about the conversation?

    Trump didn’t just try to obstruct justice by firing Comey to intimidate any further attempts at investigation, he also attempted to intimidate the man whom he met in private and attempted to get him to swear loyalty in an attempt to discourage him from coming out and testifying to the details of that conversation (the attempt failed as Comey went and testified anyway).

    If anyone wants an intro to Mafia style tactics of intimidation, these are good examples. Trump is all too familiar with them.

  5. Just remember, everybody, the famous words of John Adams:

    May none but honest men rule under this roof.

    Congratulations, TrumpBots and ReThuglicans! In three (four?) Republican administrations, you’ve managed to throw that prayer into hell where you all belong!

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