Trump DENIES asking Comey for a loyalty pledge + refuses to answer whether he records conversations

President Donald Trump has flat out denied asking former FBI director James Comey for a loyalty pledge and has refused to answer questions about whether he records conversations in the White House.

In an interview with Fox News Channel’s Jeanine Pirro on Saturday night, Trump said he never questioned Comey about his loyalty.

‘No I didn’t, but I don’t think it would be a bad question to ask,’ Trump said.  ‘I don’t know how that got there because I didn’t ask that question.’

Trump was referring to a New York Times article this week that alleged he had demanded loyalty from Comey during a private dinner at the White House in January.

Associates of the now-fired FBI director claimed Comey had told them he declined to pledge loyalty to Trump but said he would always be honest with the president.

Comey had allegedly said Trump asked twice during the private dinner. Sources close to Comey said he now believes this dinner conversation may have sealed his fate.

When Trump was questioned by Jeanine Pirro about whether he recorded these conversations with Comey, the President refused to comment.

‘That I can’t talk about,’ he said. ‘All I want is for Comey to be honest and I hope he will.’

It comes after Trump seemingly lobbed a veiled threat at Comey on Friday, hinting that some of their conversations before his firing may have been recorded.

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

It’s unclear whether Trump was warning that the White House is recording his calls, or if he believes the FBI may have been recording Comey’s.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Friday afternoon that the Oval Office would be silent on the matter: ‘The president has nothing further to add on that.’

Challenged about the tweet itself, Spicer said: ‘That’s not a threat. He’s simply stating a fact.’

Comey’s alleged version of events about the White House dinner is vastly different to the conversation Trump himself described in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt on Thursday.

While it is not clear if they are talking about the same dinner, the pair are believed to have only dined together privately once.

Trump indicated that he had dinner with Comey at the former FBI director’s request – and said Comey was angling to keep his job.

‘I had a dinner with him. He wanted to have dinner because he wanted to stay on. We had a very nice dinner at the White House,’ Trump said.

‘He asked for the dinner?’ Holt followed up.

‘A dinner was arranged, I think he asked for the dinner,’ the president hedged. ‘And he wanted to stay on as the FBI head.

‘And I said I’ll consider and we’ll see what happens. But we had a very nice dinner. And at that time he told me ‘you are not under investigation’,’ Trump said.

Trump said he had asked Comey – once over dinner and twice by phone – if the FBI were investigating him as part of its probe into alleged collusion between members of his campaign and the Russian government prior to the election.

The President showed no concern that the request might be viewed as interference in the active FBI probe.

During that same interview, Trump declared he had planned to fire Comey all along, regardless of whether top Justice Department officials recommended the stunning step.

Source: Trump DENIES asking Comey for a loyalty pledge | Daily Mail Online