13 May, 2017
Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat representing Michigan's 13th District, has joined others from his party in demanding answers from President Donald Trump following the firing of Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey and alleged secret tapes from the White House.
Trump on Friday sent a tweet saying Comey "better hope that there are no "tapes" of their conversations after multiple outlets published stories about a private dinner at the White House the two shared in January. The narrative that's being set up here for him by Trump's critics is that he's a flawed but well-meaning lawman who did his duty with the Russian Federation probe and was punished for it by a lawless, vindictive president.
The anti-secrecy website on Friday said it's willing to pay $100,000 for the "tapes" referenced by the president this week in the wake of Mr. Comey's unexpected dismissal Tuesday as the federal government's top investigator.
The Senate Intelligence Committee ― which is also probing connections between the Trump team and Russian officials ― does not necessarily need to have proof that the tapes exist in order to subpoena them, Bradley Moss, a national security lawyer, told HuffPost.
On the House side, meanwhile, a spokesperson for the chair of the Intelligence Committee, Mike Conaway (R-Texas), declined to comment.
In a separate statement, the Indian American lawmaker, who is a member of the the House Oversight Committee, said these "tapes could accelerate current investigations as previous tapes have aided past inquiries". Matthew Miller, a former spokesman for the Department of Justice, questioned whether Congress could successfully subpoena all of the tapes, citing a potential "separation of powers issue".
Conyers and Cummings ask that the White House turn over any tapes by May 25. James Comey knows what he said, and he seems very confident that if there is a tape, there's nothing on it for him to anxious about. Deleting the recordings could be a criminal offense, he wrote.
Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN that while it might not be within his committee's jurisdiction "whomever's jurisdiction it is, we ought to at some point get a look at it and listen to it". Aides said the topic was debated among staff on Friday morning, but it appeared likely enough that Trump was in the clear.
