James Comey 'not worried about any tapes' despite Trump's Twitter threat

Former FBI Director James Comey has reportedly said he hopes there are tapes of his various conversations with Donald Trump.

Hours after Mr Trump issued a veiled threat on Twitter in which he said Mr Comey “better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press”, a report said the former FBI Director had responded by saying he was not concerned.

CNN said a source had said the meeting over dinner on January 27 had been requested by Mr Trump, and that Mr Comey had already been told he was going to stay in his position.

“It is absolutely untrue that Jim asked to have dinner or that he asked to have his job,” the network quoted the source as saying: “That is a complete fabrication.”

Meanwhile, NBC quoted a source close to Mr Comey as saying: “He hopes there are tapes. That would be perfect.”

The proxy war of words between the two men came days after Mr Trump announced he had fired Mr Comey, claiming that he had taken the decision because of his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Few observers believed that explanation.

The White House has been scrambling to keep its straight its story about the firing of Mr Comey, something that Mr Trump has not made easy.

Initially, a succession of officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, said Mr Trump took the decision after acting of the recommendation of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

But in an interview with NBC, Mr Trump said he had made up his mind to fire the FBI Director before obtaining memos from the two senior officials in the Justice Department. Indeed, as it became clear that the documents had been hastily put together to create cover for Mr Trump, Mr Rosenstein reportedly threatened to resign.

“Regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey,” Mr Trump said, referring to the ousted law enforcement official as a “showboat” and a “grandstander”.

“The FBI has been in turmoil,” Mr Trump claimed. “You know that, I know that, everyone knows that.”

Mr Trump also claimed in the NBC interview that he had asked Mr Comey directly if he was under investigation personally as part of the bureau’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia’s alleged effort to influence the 2016 presidential election.

“I said, ‘If it’s possible, would you let me know, am I under investigation?’ He said you are not under investigation,” Mr Trump said. He said the discussions happened in two phone calls and at a dinner in which Mr Comey was asking to keep his job.

Mr Comey has not confirmed Mr Trump’s account of the events. The New York Times cited two unnamed associates of Mr Comey who recounted his tale of a January dinner with the president in which Mr Trump asked for a pledge of loyalty.

Mr Comey declined, apparently, instead offering “honesty”. When Mr Trump then pressed for “honest loyalty”, Mr Comey told the president: “You will have that.”

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders disputed the report and said the president would “never even suggest the expectation of personal loyalty”.

CNN said its source said Mr Comey knew it was possible he would lose his job, especially when he did not agree to pledge loyalty and later with the fallout over refuting the president’s claims that President Barack Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower. However, the manner in which he was fired came as a surprise to him.