Trump says he does not have tapes of Comey meetings

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Trump first broached the possibility of "tapes" with a May 12 tweet, just three days after he abruptly fired Comey, who was leading an investigation into potential collusion between Trump associates and Russian Federation to influence the 2016 election.

Trump's statement brings to an end speculation that began shortly after accounts emerged about the president's exchanges with Comey - speculation the president himself began with a tweet that warned the former Federal Bureau of Investigation director that there might have been tapes of their conversations.

Mr Comey says any recordings that might exist would support his version that Mr Trump asked him to pledge loyalty and urged him to drop the investigation into the president's former national security adviser.

Warner is the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Mr Comey declined, instead offering to be "honest".

Trump has denied any collusion, and he continued to cast doubt on the investigations in a series of tweets on Thursday morning.

There had been speculation that Trump did have tapes of some of his meetings with Comey because he tweeted in May that Comey "better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"

The panel sent a letter on June 9 to White House Counsel Don McGahn requesting information on whether recordings of Comey's conversations with Trump exist and, if they do, for copies to be turned over by Friday.

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Earlier on Thursday, CNN reported that two top US intelligence officials have told investigators Trump suggested they publicly deny any collusion between his campaign and Russian Federation, but they did not feel he had ordered them to do so.

Media reports surfaced soon after Comey's firing that revealed the existence of memos detailing conversations between the president and Comey.

Trump's tweets put the White House on a sticky ground both in a legal and political manner.

Comey made reference to Trump's "tapes" tweet during his testimony. "I don't have anything to add beyond the statement itself", spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said. Under a post-Watergate law, the Presidential Records Act, recordings made by presidents belong to the people and can eventually be made public.

The president's statement on Twitter went out just two hours after Senate Republicans released a almost 150-page bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, and reshape America's health care system.

"I think he was in his way instinctively trying to rattle Comey", former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a longtime Trump confidant, has said.

That claim quickly raised concerns that Mr Trump, like some United States presidents in the past, was secretly recording all of his conversations in the White House.

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