After acknowledging Thursday that he did not have any tapes of his conversations with former FBI Director James Comey, President Donald Trump explained why he hinted at the existence of them in an interview on Fox News.
Trump said his reasoning was to keep Comey honest, especially after he said he learned about surveillance and unmasking of Trump campaign members during the Obama administration. Trump said he wanted to protect himself by making Comey believe their private conversation was recorded in case he said something different when he testified before Congress earlier this month.
"When he found out that I, you know, that there may be tapes out there, whether it's governmental tapes or anything else, and who knows, I think his story may have changed," Trump said. "I mean, you'll have to take a look at that."
"My story didn't change, my story was always a straight story," Trump added. "My story was always the truth, but you'll have to determine for yourself whether or not his story changed."
Trump suggested that some "investigative reporting" would be needed to determine if Comey had indeed changed his story based off of Trump's initial claims on their conversations.
Fox host Ainsley Earhardt praised it as a "smart way" to make sure Comey stayed honest in the hearing.
"It wasn't very stupid, I can tell you that," Trump said.
Comey testified that Trump's initial tweet hinting at the possibility of "tapes" prompted him to leak a memo of his conversation with the president about backing off the conversation into ex-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/863007411132649473
Comey said he wanted that leak to lead to the appointment of a special counsel, which ultimately occurred with the Justice Department tapping Robert Mueller to lead the Russia investigation.