Trump: 'I did not make, and do not have' Comey tapes

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he didn't make and doesn't possess any tapes of his private conversations with former FBI Director James Comey, laying to rest speculation that arose after he tweeted last month that Comey better hope there were no tapes.

Trump fired Comey amid the Justice Department's investigation into the Trump campaign's possible ties to Russia.

"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," Trump wrote on Twitter.

Trump on May 12 floated the idea that he had an audio record of their conversations. For five and a half weeks, the president and senior White House officials refused to tell the public whether such tapes exist.

But after an inquiry from congressional investigators about the tapes, Trump tweeted Thursday, "I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings."

REUTERS