US President Trump asked to turn over any Comey tapes by the Congress
US President Trump asked to turn over any Comey tapes by the Congress: The United States congressmen called upon President Donald Trump yesterday, Sunday 14th May, to hand over any tapes of any discussions with ousted FBI chief, Mr. James Comey. Such a request has the potential of setting up a confrontation with the White House as the Democrats have considered a boycott of the vote on Comey’s replacement.
In what some consider to be a highly unprecedented move, President Trump last week appeared to suggest, on Twitter, that he may possibly have some tapes of conversations with Mr. Comey and warned the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) against reaching out to the media. However, when challenged about the same President Trump and a White House spokesman declined to confirm or deny the existence of any such tapes.
The Republican Senator, Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina said the White House ought to “clear the air” about the tapes. He said “You can’t be cute about tapes. If there are any tapes of this conversation, they need to be turned over.”
President Trump has ignited a political firestorm when he abruptly dismissed Mr. Comey from his position last week. This was in the wake of the FBI’s decision to investigate the alleged Russian interference in the U.S. election and possible ties between Moscow and the Trump campaign.
The Democrats have accused President Trump of attempting to hinder the FBI’s investigation and have called for some sort of independent inquiry into the said matter. In response President Trump has maintained that he removed Mr. Comey because he was not doing a good job and that Mr. Comey had lost the support of the Bureau’s employees.
President Trump had tweeted on Friday saying “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”
Speaking with “Fox News Sunday” the Republican Senator, Mike Lee, of Utah said that if there were such recordings then it was “inevitable” that they would be subpoenaed and the White House would have to release them.
Senate Democratic Leader, Mr. Chuck Schumer, said that President Trump must immediately provide Congress with any tapes and warned that the destruction of any such tapes would be contrary to the law. Mr. Schumer also said that the Senate Democrats are considering whether to decline to vote on a new FBI director until a special prosecutor is named to investigate President Trump’s potential ties to Russia.
Russia has vehemently denied all such claims and the White House has thus far maintained that there was no collusion.
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