13 May, 2017
President Donald Trump on Friday ratcheted-up the rhetoric against fired FBI Director James Comey, issuing a warning via Twitter to Comey that he shouldn't leak information to the media.
"James Comey better hope there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"
Spicer said he is "not aware" of any recording that exists of the conversations between Trump and Comey.
Trump fired Comey late Tuesday afternoon, a surprise move that set off a firestorm of controversy and criticism in Washington and beyond.
That explanation directly contradicted the one offered up to that point by Vice President Mike Pence and other top White House spokespeople, who had said that Trump only chose to fire the Federal Bureau of Investigation director on the recommendation of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Trump's spokeswoman replied by saying she hadn't spoken to Trump about when he chose to fire Comey.
"I don't think, that's not a threat, he simply stated a fact. The tweet speaks for itself", he said.
"I think the president wants loyalty to this country and to the rule of law", he said. It isn't clear whether Trump believes there actually are tapes.
"The president should immediately provide any such recordings to Congress or admit, once again, to have made a deliberately misleading - and this case threatening - statement", said Schiff.
The dinner came in the early days of Trump's administration, as the FBI was investigating Russian meddling in the election and possible ties to Trump's campaign.
President Trump at the White House on April 27.
The spokesman denied that Trump was trying to warn Comey to stay silent about the circumstances surrounding his firing. The New York Times said Comey has told associates he declined to make a pledge of loyalty to Trump when the president requested it as the pair had dinner at the White House just seven days after his inauguration.
But in an interview with NBC News, the President confirmed he was going to dismiss the director irrespective of Mr Rosenstein's memo, accusing Mr Comey of being a "showboat" and a "grandstander".
In his letter announcing Comey's termination, Trump wrote that that he "greatly appreciated" Comey's informing him on "three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation".
Comey has not publicly discussed any conversations he has had with Trump.
In another tweet on Friday morning, Trump again pointed to Clapper's testimony to call for an end to the Russian Federation investigation.
By way of explanation for the conflicting versions given out by the White House on the Comey firing, Trump said, "As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with ideal accuracy", while once again accusing the "fake media" of projecting the story that there was collusion between the Russians & Trump campaign which was "fabricated by Dems as an excuse for losing the election". "My decision", Trump told NBC's Lester Holt.
Shortly before Trump fired Comey, the president tweeted, "The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?"
US intelligence agencies concluded in January that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a campaign of interference in the election aimed at tilting the vote in Trump's favor.
In a series of early morning tweets, Trump assailed critics and the media over their response to Comey's ouster, and threatened to cancel daily news briefings at the White House.
In response to media criticism over the contradictory versions of Mr Comey's dismissal, Mr Trump tweeted: "As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with ideal accuracy!"
