Trump's tease of possible Comey tapes fits familiar pattern
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
Today
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump said he had a secret. He dangled it on Twitter. He parried reporters' questions about it. He milked the moment, drawing out the drama for weeks.
That big tease played out in 2011, when Trump promised to reveal what his private investigators had found in Hawaii about President Barack Obama's birth certificate. (Trump never did release anything.)
Now, Trump has stretched out a new high-stakes guessing game, this time in the White House, by hinting that he might have recordings of his conversations with fired FBI Director James Comey.
Trump is expected to answer the tapes question this week.
If they do exist, they could become a central piece of evidence in the Russia investigation that has transfixed Washington and cast a shadow over the future of Trump's presidency. If they don't, questions will be raised about why the president would stake his reputation and political capital on promoting something that just isn't real.
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https://apnews.com/amp/6eef6ee955ea44e3b6c828f1d5477b7f
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Gingrich: Trump was trying to 'rattle' Comey with tapes claim
BY REBECCA SAVRANSKY - 06/22/17 10:03 AM EDT
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said he thinks President Trump was trying to "rattle" former FBI Director James Comey by suggesting there might be recordings of their conversations.
"I think he was, in his way, instinctively trying to rattle Comey," Gingrich told The Associated Press.
"He's not a professional politician. He doesn't come back and think about Nixon and Watergate. His instinct is: 'I'll outbluff you.' "
Trump first alluded to the possible existence of tapes of his conversations with Comey in a tweet days after he fired Comey.
more
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/338935-gingrich-trump-was-trying-to-rattle-comey-with-tapes-claim
= new reply since forum marked as read
"Oh I was just kidding."
