Are Trump's "Tapes" Of Comey Actually Recordings From A White House DVR?

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Update: Trump has just tweeted that "I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings"

Still no one has put forth, (in my opinion and to my knowledge), a credible theory as to why Trump would threaten someone with tapes that he knows don't exist, and that Comey would apparently welcome.

For instance, here is the latest on it from AP, which doesn't shed much light...

But I think that there was a method to his madness, though ultimately it was doomed to backfire:

Timeline of events:

May 11 - Trump discloses dinner with Comey where he alleges Comey said he's not under investigation.
May 11 - Comey's friends give Comey version of dinner to press, mentioning Trump's loyalty pledge request but NO report of Comey assuring Trump that he is not under investigation.
May 12 - Trump tweets "tapes" threat.
May 15 - Comey leaks parts of memos to friend/press with Flynn "hope you can let this go"
June 7 - Comey finally admits publicly trump was not under investigation

The reason for tapes tweet is because after Comey's version of the dinner came out, without mentioning Trump not being under investigation, Trump got worried that Comey would not affirm that he told him that he wasn't under investigation, since these assurances were made in private and therefore could be denied.

tl dr;

So Trump tweeted his 'better hope there are no tapes' because he didn't have any tapes, not because he did. If he did have a record, he would have just waited to see what Comey said and then used them, if necessary... So trying to keep Comey honest by bluffing.

After Comey later testified that he told Trump he was not under investigation, the point was moot, because Trump's concern was only about the "under investigation" part of their conversations.

So it might have even worked, except there was no need as Comey had already written his memos in which he contemporaneously admits as much and couldn't change them anyway.

But Trump didn't know that when he tweeted.

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Undisclosed #1

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I'd like to think the logic of my post yesterday forced him to admit its truth as well...

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Marty Major

Teledyne FLIR

I'm not sure I agree with your conclusion - though I absolutely agree with the premise of your argument.

"If he did have a record, he would have just waited to see what Comey said and then used them, if necessary... So trying to keep Comey honest by bluffing."

imo, when Trump made the 'he better hope their aren't tapes' comment, the odds of there actually being tapes (at least by Trump) went to virtual zero.

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Undisclosed #1

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In reply to Marty Major

imo, when Trump made the 'he better hope their aren't tapes' comment, the odds of there actually being tapes (at least by Trump) went to virtual zero.

Only the odds of Trump admitting he had tapes goto zero.

So let's say he had recorded the dinner. Lets also imagine that Comey's recollection of the dialogue is generally accurate. The recording is both damming (loyalty pledge ) and confirming (not under investigation) at the same time.

Trump doesn't want to release it because of the "loyalty" statement. At the same time, he wants to leverage the fact that it was recorded to make Comey divulge the whole conversation, hence the tweet.

So he might have recorded it, but doesn't want to release it. Maybe he would have if necessary, but since Comey has admitted the only thing of value to him in it, there is only downside.

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Marty Major

Teledyne FLIR

"So he might have recorded it, but doesn't want to release it. Maybe he would have if necessary, but since Comey has admitted the only thing of value to him in it, there is only downside."

I do not discount your logic preceding (and supporting) the above... but I would not bet on that scenario - and I stand by my original comment (which is actually derived from your own referenced comment I quoted above): If he had made tapes, he never would've made the 'if there are tapes' comment.

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Undisclosed #1

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In reply to Marty Major

If he had made tapes, he never would've made the 'if there are tapes' comment.

What do you think he would he have done at that moment then?

Said he actually had them? Released them? Said nothing?

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Marty Major

Teledyne FLIR

if he had made tapes then there is no need to make any statement at all. Why would he?

any definitive statement could potentially have unforeseeable downside (again, under the premise that he made tapes).

if he says they don't exist, then that is a lie... and there is no shortage of WH leakers who could easily expose it as such.

if he says they do exist, he knows they are almost certain to be subpoenaed.

So, if he actually made tapes he woulda kept it on the down-low, imo :)

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Undisclosed #1

IPVMU Certified

In reply to Marty Major

if he had made tapes then there is no need to make any statement at all. Why would he?

Only to try and make Comey come clean without having to release them, which would make him look bad as well.

Of course if he says he actually has them then he will be hounded or have to admit he lied. Better just to make an ambiguous statement like he did.

With or without tapes, Trump claims the strategy actually worked in the video above.

Of course he's wrong because Comey was never going to deny under oath what he said because he had recorded it and told other people at the time.

Though I agree he 99% didn't record anything, despite his history, most likely because he knew what he was going to say, i.e. the whole reason for the dinner.

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Brian Karas

IPVM

Still no one has put forth, (in my opinion and to my knowledge), a credible theory as to why Trump would threaten someone with tapes that he knows don't exist, and that Comey would apparently welcome.

In complete seriousness, I would not attempt to try and analyze Trump's "logic" on this, or most other things he says/tweets, from the outside.

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Undisclosed #1

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In reply to Brian Karas

Good point.

What do you think, they must have indoor cameras, right? Just to keep track of where people are?

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Marty Major

Teledyne FLIR

In reply to Brian Karas

Also in complete seriousness - I disagree.

While Trump most certainly does things differently than any other past president ever has, I believe that there is an obvious logic to many (not all, maybe) of his extemporaneous communications.

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