Gingrich: Trump was trying to ‘rattle’ Comey with tapes claim
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.’ “
{mosads}Trump first alluded to the possible existence of tapes of his conversations with Comey in a tweet days after he fired Comey.
“James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” Trump tweeted.
Since then, Trump and his top aides have refused to say whether there are actually recordings of the interactions.
Lawmakers have since called for Trump to say whether such tapes exist, and if so, to release them as part of ongoing investigations.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday that Trump will make an announcement about the tapes soon.
“The president has said that he will make an announcement on this. I expect it this week,” Spicer said at Tuesday’s news briefing.
Comey said in his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this month that it was Trump’s tweet about the tapes that persuaded him to leak details of his meetings with Trump to the media.
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