Did Trump tape conversations he had with former FBI Director James Comey to protect himself?

A rather bizarre report in the U.K.’s Daily Mail has thrown new gasoline on the already massive political firestorm swirling in Washington, D.C. on the wake of President Donald J. Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James B. Comey.

In what is being reported as a “veiled threat” from the president to Comey, the paper framed an early Friday morning tweet from Trump as a warning to the former director to be careful in refuting the president’s claims this week that Comey told him on three different occasions he was not included in the bureau’s ongoing probe into Russian election meddling.

“James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” Trump tweeted.

It was not clear if Trump was saying that his conversations with Comey – which apparently included a private dinner with the former FBI chief in January – were actually recorded, but clearly that is what the tweet implies.

Another possibility: Trump may believe that the FBI was monitoring their conversations. But either way, the president appears confident in what he has asserted Comey told him regarding the investigation. And he obviously felt the need to protect himself by preempting any further leaks. (Related: Read Comey confirmed the essence of Trump’s claim that the Obama administration was investigating him.)

On Thursday, in an interview exclusively with NBC News’ Lester Holt, Trump said he and Comey had spoken on three occasions since Inauguration Day. On each of those occasions, Trump insists that Comey, in essence, cleared him, though it is highly unusual for an FBI director to tell someone they are, or are not, under investigation by the bureau.

“He said it once at dinner and then he said it twice during phone calls,” Trump told Holt, describing it in a matter-of-fact way.

“I said, ‘If it’s possible would you let me know, am I under investigation?’” Trump stated.

“He said, ‘You are not under investigation.’”

There is no indication that Comey is preparing to talk to the media, though leaking from the Trump administration continues at a breakneck pace, thanks in large part to the Deep State that has had it in for Trump since he won Nov. 8. But that might not matter: The Senate Intelligence Committee asked him to testify next week.

Trump’s suggestion that conversations may have been recorded come amid other allegations that he demanded loyalty from Comey at their January dinner – a story reported, not surprisingly, by The New York Times, which has been quick to publish all salacious details that portray this president and his White House in a bad, unfavorable light:

As they ate, the president and Mr. Comey made small talk about the election and the crowd sizes at Mr. Trump’s rallies. The president then turned the conversation to whether Mr. Comey would pledge his loyalty to him. 

Mr. Comey declined to make that pledge. Instead, Mr. Comey has recounted to others, he told Mr. Trump that he would always be honest with him, but that he was not “reliable” in the conventional political sense.

This didn’t come from Comey himself, mind you, but from unnamed “associates” of the former FBI director – which, in this age of fake news compliments of the Washington establishment media, should always be taken with a grain of salt. (Related: Read WSJ: Comey ‘took revenge’ on Trump for his wiretap tweet.)

For its part, the Trump administration is refuting this account. In fact, Trump gave Holt a much different account of what was discussed, saying that Comey requested the meeting and that talk about loyalty did not arise.

“We don’t believe this to be an accurate account,” said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the deputy press secretary, the Times reported. “The integrity of our law enforcement agencies and their leadership is of the utmost importance to President Trump. He would never even suggest the expectation of personal loyalty, only loyalty to our country and its great people.”

Eventually the truth will out itself, though if it favors the president, the perpetually angry Left and their allies in the Deep State will never acknowledge or admit it.

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J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NBCNews.com

NYTimes.com

NewsFakes.com