Top Democrats demand any "tapes," all communications between Trump and James Comey
A pair of top House Democrats is calling on the White House to hand over any possible "tapes" of conversations between President Trump and former FBI Director James Comey and all communications relating to his dismissal.
In a letter to White House counsel Don McGahn, Reps. John Conyers, D-Michigan, and Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, asked for the materials following Mr. Trump's tweet Friday morning in which he suggested that "tapes" might exist and that Comey should hope that there are none.
"Under normal circumstances, we would not consider credible any claims that the White House may have taped conversations of meetings with the President," they wrote. "However, because of the many false statements made by White House officials this week, we are compelled to ask whether any such recordings do in fact exist. If so, we request copies of all recordings in possession of the White House regarding this matter."
Conyers is the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and Cummings serves as the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
They said that they are also requesting "all documents, memoranda, analyses, emails, and other communications relating to the President's decision to dismiss Director Comey" and asked that McGahn respond to them by May 25.
Referring to Mr. Trump's threat to release "tapes," the two lawmakers said that it's a "crime to intimidate or threaten any potential witness with the intent to influence, delay, or prevent their official testimony." They said the president's actions Friday morning and his comments in an interview with NBC News a day earlier "raise the specter of possible intimidation and obstruction of justice."
During the daily press briefing Friday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer was asked repeatedly about the president's tweet about tapes and declined to confirm or deny their existence.
"The president has nothing further to add on that," Spicer said.