Refused. The white house says there was no request so who is right and would such a request be wrong . And not perfectly accurate. The president now says he moves so fast that his press team simply cant keep up saying its not possible for them to explain his moves with perfect accuracy. He suggests ending the Daily Press Briefings. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Backing news. Once again the white house now scrambling to respond to a twitter outburst from President Trump. This morning president warned that fired fbi director james connelly, quote, better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations. White House Press Secretary sean spicer later insist that had this is not a threat. Spicer wont say if the president records white house conversations, neither will the president. At issue, word from a source that the president asked comey to pledge his loyalty at at white house dinner back in january. The source says comey was taken aback by the request and declined. The white house says no pledge was requested. The president today also tweeted about the probe into russias campaign meddling and contacts with his associates, once again calling it a witchhunt, and as his surrogates trip over themselves trying to keep up with his twists and turns the president concedes he may be moving too quickly for them and suggests the answer to botched communications from the white house may be to cancel the Daily Press Briefings. Ill talk to democratic congresswoman Kathleen Rice and our correspondents, specialists and guests, they are standing by with full coverage of the days top stories. With talk of threats, secret recordings and loyalty tests, lets get another busy day over at white house and we begin with our White House Correspondent sara mur me. Sum it all up for our viewers. Reporter this has been a week of surprises and controversies from this white house and today was certainly no different as the president fired off a thinly veiled threat against his former fbi director and Administration Officials including the president himself refused to say whether hes taking secret recordings of people over in the white house. Prufrm firing off an apparent threat to the ousted fbi director, trump tweeting james comey better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. Trumps warning coming as the president is facing scrutiny for his private conversations with comey before he was fired. Today the president is refusing to explain what tapes he was referring to. And whether hes secretly recording conversations in the white house. I wont talk about that. All i want is for comey to be honest, and i hope he will be, and im sure he will be, i hope. Reporter as comey was overseeing the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump Campaign and russia, trump says he asked comey repeatedly for reassurances that he wasnt under investigation. And did you ask him am i under investigation . I said if its possible, will you let me know am i under investigation, and he said you are not under investigation. Reporter those conversations which quickly raised ethical red flags coming twice in phone calls and once over dinner. When trump says comey was vying to keep his job. Dinner was arranged. I think he asked for dip der, and he wanted to stay on as the fbi head and i said ill, you know, consider it. Well see what happens. Reporter but a source close to comey disputes that account saying comey did not dinner and already been reassured by the napt he would keep his job. During that dinner or source says comey was taken aback when trump asked for a personal pledge of loyalty which comey refused to provide. All of this as the administration struggles to get its stories straight about why the president ultimately decided to fire comey. After Administration Officials initially said it was as the prompting of department of justice officials, now trump says it was his call and says he was thinking about the russia investigation when he made the decision. In fact, when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a madeup story. Its an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election, that they should have won. Trump took to twitter to explain the discrepancy saying as a very active president with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stabbed at podium with perfect accuracy. Amid all of this, white House Press Secretary sean spicer returned to the podium today after spending part of the week at the pentagon on Naval Reserve duty. Its good to be back with you. Apparently i was a little missed. Reporter as spicer impersonator Melissa Mccarthy sped through Downtown Manhattan friday, its clear that the press secretary was missed, at least by saturday night live. Now spicers star turn may come to an end if its up to the president. President trump saying he may bring an end to the Daily Press Briefings and hold a press conference instead. Lets get the very latest now from our justice correspondent pamela brown. What are you learning . Reporter today were learning more about why former fbi director comb he dinner with President Trump while the russia probe was ongoing. Oh, and theres reporter tonight a source close to james comey tells cnn the former fbi director was taken aback which President Trumps request for loyalty over dinner on january 27thth. Three days after the president told comey he would keep his job and the day after acting attorney general sally yates went to the white house with warnings about then National Security adviser michael flynn. Today the president flatly denying there was any request for a loyalty oath. Reporter did you ask that question . No, no, i didnt, but i dont think it would be a bad question to ask. I think loyalty to the country, loyalty to the United States is important. I mean, you know, it depends on how you define loyalty. Number one. Number two, i dont know how that got there because i didnt ask that question. Reporter but the source close toss comey says trump did ask for loyalty and instead comey pledged honesty. After details of the dinner surfaced, President Trump tweeted ominously james comey better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. But according to a source familiar with the matter, comey is not worried about any tapes that may exist. Former director of National Intelligence James Clapper offering some insight into comeys decision to have dinner with the president during the ongoing fbi investigation into Trumps Campaign ties to russia. He had been invited to the white house to have dinner with the president and that he was uns we that because of even compromising even the optics, the appearance of independence, not only him but of the fbi. Reporter President Trump told nbc news comey assured him he was not under investigation in the russia probe. As the Investigation Continues to dog the white house, clapper says he cannot definitivity say if there was collusion between russia and the Trump Campaign. Well, i dont know if there was collusion or not. I dont know if theres evidence of collusion or not. Reporter just earlier in the week, clapper testified that he hadnt seen any evidence of collusion which the president seeds on in a tweet today saying when James Clapper himself and virtually everyone else with knowledge of the witchhunt says there is no collusion, when does it end . But today clapper clarified that if there was hard evidence of collusion he wouldnt necessarily have known because it would have been in the hands of the fbi. There was no evidence that came that roses to that level at that time that found its way into the Intelligence Community assessment which we had pretty high confidence in. Thats not to say there wasnt evidence, but not that met that threshold. Reporter and the Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein, he recommended james comeys firing. Hes expected to brief senators on the matter next week, someone unlikely to be on the hill next week, james comey who a source tells me is unlikely to testify despite and invitation from senators in the Intelligence Community to do so. Its clear he wants to lay low, at least for the time being. The apparent indications that were getting. Thanks so much for that. Pamela brown reporting. More breaking news right now. Sources say the Deputy Attorney general Rob Rosenstein who wrote the memo used in President Trumps ouster of james comey doesnt see a need at this point for a special prosecutor. Lets go to our justice correspondent evan perez. Evan, what are you learning . Wolf, at this point the attorney general Rod Rosenstein doesnt see anything in this investigation that requires him to step aside, to recuse himself from his oversight of the investigation. Its being led by the u. S. Attorney general in alexandria, virginia, and hes also serving as the leader of the National Security division at department of justice headquarters. Hes looking to see if theres any sign that the investigation is imperilled, and theres no sign of that. The fbi has assured him that they are going to pursue this investigation where it leads, and hes going to hes assured members of congress that he is going to make sure theres that nobody is going to interfere with it from the white house or from anywhere else. Reporter and hell appear with senators next week. Hes pected to testify next week to members of congress. That will be behind closed doors. Yes, it. Thanks very much. Joining us it is democratic congresswoman Kathleen Rice of new york, a member of the House Homeland Security committee. Congresswoman, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me, wolf. As you know, the president tweeted today comby in his words better hope that there are no tapes of his conversations. Do you think this indicates that the president records conversations snm. I think hes dutybound now to say that he does or not. It wouldnt be unheard of what this is to me, it shows a president in my mind thats becoming increasingly more unhinged. To Say Something like that to someone in a threatening way, what is the point of that . You know, during this whole we can this was all going on i was a Bipartisan Group of my colleagues in ukraine, and they know better than anyone what russia meddling in their lives, what cost that comes at, right. You look at poland and the recent elections in france. Everyone knows what russia does to try to influence democratic elections all across the world, and it was no different in november of 2016 here. It seems that donald trump is the only person that doesnt want to admit, that and have you to wonder why he keeps attacking that one issue. So i i dont understand why hes going after comey. He fired him. That was well within his prerogative to do. I might have disagreed with that, but he was able to do that, but the whats upsetting is how many Different Reasons given for why he was why he was fired and now that comey is getting his story out there also, trump is acting like a petulant child. Democrat on Judiciary Committee as well as oversight committee, they are now requested copies of all Record National possession of the white house regarding this matter. Do you expect this request will be granted by the white house . It should be. When the president makes a Statement Like that and was in the white house he has control over the white house, i think they are dutybound to turn over whatever tapes might exist. You know what i would love to see, wolf, what i would love to see is this is not a democrat dick or a republican issue. This is an issue about the survival of this country. Were in a crisis right now, and it is one that has been completely created by the president who has shown a complete inability to exercise any kind of discipline. He surrounds himself with people who are loyal first to him, forget about the country, or the people in this country. Its loyalty to donald trump first and foremost, and when youre the ceo of a company you have a right to do that, all right, but when youre the president. United states, its not appropriate for you to demand loyalty from people, and when we see is an increasingly large circle of people around him who are kind of waving the white flag and saying, okay, whatever you want us to say well say, and thats really, really disturbing. It really is the beginning stages of an executive who is acting in an increasingly autocratic manner. Do you think your republican colleagues in the house agree with you and feel the same way . I know there are some that do and my hope is at this time they will put country before politics because thats what we need right now. We need people on the republican side saying this is getting out of control. We need an independent investigation to look into russias meddling in the elections of 2016. If we dont do that, they are going to do it again. Its theres no question about it. The president cited the russia investigation, what he called this russia thing when explaining why he decided to fire james comey. He said the whole thing herman cain the whole investigation, all the charges, collusion made up in his word. Youre a former district attorney, a foreigner u. S. Assistant attorney general. Does all this rise so far to a level of obstruction of justice . It could. I mean, look, we were when i served in the department of justice, we had one distinct rule. We never made Public Comments about ongoing investigations, so for the president to say that on three occasions he asked the fbi chief, right, jim comb, who is runt fbi, can you just is it appropriate for you to give me a heads up as to whether or not im being investigated. Its completely inappropriate, and jim comeys response according to him and others that spoke to him immediately after was totally appropriate. Its not i cant comment on that. You dont want me to comment on that. Theres a reason why the period for the head of the fbi is a fixed tenyear period and it was done at a time when they wanted to depoliticize that of course, recognizing how important it is for the fbi to work without fear or favor in any political way. Now, of course, its well within the president whomever the president is to dismiss an fbi chief for cause, but in this instance it doesnt look like it was cause. It locks like comey was getting more aggressive looking into russia meddling into this campaign and possibly colluding with people on Trumps Campaign. Congresswoman, i want you to stand by. Theres more information thats now coming in. Well take a quick break and well resume our interview right after this h. Were on to you, diabetes. Times up, insufficient prenatal care. And administrative paperwork. Your days of drowning people are numbered. Same goes for you, budget overruns. And rising costs,. Wipe that smile off your face. Were coming for you, too. For those who wont rest until the world is healthier, neither will we. Optum. How well gets done. How if guests book direct ater, choicehotels. Com and stay twice theyll get a 50 gift card . Summertime. Badda book. Badda boom. Got you a shirt . I kept the receipt. Book now at choicehotels. Com but theyre different. D kind its nice to remove artificial ingredients. Kind never had to. 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People suggest that the question that apparently the New York Times is selling that you asked comey whether or not you had his loyalty was possibly inappropriate. I read that article. I dont think its inappropriate. Did you ask that question . No, no, i didnt, but i dont think it would be a bad question to ask. I think loyalty to the country. Loyalty to the United States is important. You know, i mean, it depends on how you define loyalty. Number one. Number two, i dont know how that got there because i didnt ask that question. What about the idea that you said that there might be tape recordings. I wont talk about that. All i want is for comey to be honest, and i hope he will be, and im sure he will be i hope. Were back with democratic congresswoman Kathleen Rice. A member of the House Homeland Security. React to this. The president says he didnt think a loyalty pledge would be inappropriate to ask of the fbi director. Its completely interesting. Janine pirro was a d. A. And should have hit him harder. You know theres no loyalty to any one individual person, theres a loyalty to the mission and comeys mission as head of the fbi is to make sure he does investigations without fear or favor and without any political allowing any political influence and thats what hes done. Everyone who has ever had contact with jim comey said hes a standup guy who is attatical as hes come. Has he maybe made mistakes in the past . Yes. Can we debate whether or not hes rose to the level of being able to dismiss him . Im sure we can debate that. I dont think theres any question that trump asked that question, a characteristic of donald trump that we known for all the years hes been in the public eye for po years. He prizes loyalty to him over everything else, and as i said you can do that as a ceo and when youre president of the United States you cant demand loyalty. While i have it. A Security Firm has recorded more than 45,000 attacks, hacks, most have targeted russia. What do you know about that. . Well, were all just trying to find out more information. This is happening as we speak. A lot of hacksters do this kind and they encrypt your material until you pay ran some. Whether its activists. Got to figure out where these attacks are coming from and how we can support and harden our infrastructure to make sure that energy grids and medical information and things like that cant be attacked and, you know, this could have huge consequences as well see. All right. Congresswoman, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you for having me, wolf. Coming, more on the breaking news, President Trump hinting there are tape recordings of his conversations with former fbi director james comey. Why wont the white house clear things up . Are there recording devices in the oval office or in the residence . As i said for the third time theres nothing to add. Does he think its appropriate to threaten mr. Comey not to speak . I dont think thats not a threat. 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Nooooooo yes yes, indeed. Speed, coverage, control. Introducing xfinity xfi. Find your awesome and change the way you wifi. Were following the breaking news. President trump threatening the former fbi director james comey writing in a tweerkts and im quoting the president now, james comey better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. This raises lots of questions for our specialist phil mudd. Do you interpret that tweet as a threat . I sure do. Add two words or else. Phil in, unless you do this or else. I dont think thats the heart of the story though, wolf. I think the story is more fundamental and its about president ial credibility. Ive been in the situation room with the president and opinion in the oval office and in the residence with the president of the United States. You feel a sense of power thats incredible. When i heard this story this morning i was in the studio here hat cnn and i laughed. The president is transitioning in fewer than four months from having tremendous credibility and power by a man who spoke directly to the American People and broke the Republican Democratic standards of decades and said someone who is almost an independent can win the white house toss someone who is transitioning believe it or not to be a laughing stock. You think anybody in the white house took this seriously . Of course its a threat. The question is whether the president has the credibility to back it it up, and the answer is no. He doesnt. Why do you say that . Because people in the investigation are three or four levels below the director of the fbi, analysts and agents with decades in. Are they saying youre going to fire us . Eliminate the electronic records that show ten months of evidence . Are you going to say when theres a new director who to say . They will do what the facts tell hem to do. Donald trump is used to threatening people and bullying people. This is the way he ran his business and anybody ive ever interviewed who has done business with him says the same thing. The problem for him is that you have to adjust. Hes not running the Trump Organization anymore. Hes running country, and you cant threaten either a former fbi director or people you work with because these things are actually taken really seriously. If the president is having dinner oneonone with james comey in the white house, can the president legally record, tape that are conversation . Its factdependant but the short answer is probably yes. Federal law allows for an individual who is a party of a conversation to record it. If trump is the party to the conversation and he records it, then thats probably okay. Also broad exemptions for sort of government activities so without knowing more the safest answer is, yeah, its legal. Because democrats right now on the Judiciary Committee, the oversight committee, they are already saying they want, quote, copies of all recordings in possession of the white house if they exist. Would those recordings be subject now to the president ial records act . Would the congress be able to get those recordings . The president ial records act certainly covers audio recordings, a 1978 law passed in response to watergate so the fact that its covered. Interestingly the president can destroy records related to his own presidency unless it has evidently value. The question is whether or not the congress can subpoena these will get into a complex issue of executive privilege. Not sure whether the president would be able to keep these secrets. White House Press Secretary sean spicer refused to confirm or deny the existence of a taping system. What the president said the president said and hell let the tweet leave for itself. Why are we even discussing thames . Were discussing it because once again the president has made this claim that everybody is wondering about whether or not theres actually a taping system in the white house, sort of echoes of nixon, right, and you had the white house today with sean spicer getting this question three, four, five times and essentially every time punting, not really wanting to say, you know, definitively whether or not there is a taping system, and its also i think drawing out james comey, right. I mean, you have, as gloria said, donald trump is somebody who has bullied people. Thats sort of his business style and now you have james comey saying im not going to be bullied f. Theres tapes out there he doesnt seem to be too worried about them. Put up or shut up, donald trump. Its incredible that he hasnt learned his lesson about doing these vague tweets. We saw the consequences of thark obama wiretapping at trump tower tweet. Its sort of amazing that were back again. This is the pattern that we keep talking about. He twreeeets and says some outrageous things whether its about the crowd size during the inauguration, about the president wiretapping him, 3 million vote fraud and all that and this, and then the white house staff has to go out there and try and figure out a way to rationalize this. Yeah. And its its not its not easy because sean spicer today didnt deny that theres a taping system. Now that the president has let the cat out of the bag, i think we have to assume the president does tape. The teeth speaks for itself. The problem here is either answer is bad. Either trump lied if he isnt recording those conversations and he is recording the conversations which has its own problems. And according to pam brown sources he says im not worried. And he gave this interview to fox news. Listen to this exchange. People suggest that apparently the New York Times is selling that you asked comey whether or not you had his loyalty was possibly inappropriate. I read that article. I dont think its inappropriate, number one. Did you ask that question . No, no, i didnt, but i dont think it would be a bad question to ask. I think loyalty to the country, loyalty to the United States is important, you know. I mean, it depends on how you define loyalty, number one. Number two, i dont know how that got there because i didnt ask that question. What about the idea that in a tweet you said that there might be tape record. Well, that i cant talk about that. I wont talk about that. All i want is for comey to be honest, and i hope he will be. Im sure he will be, i hope. Phil, what did you make naff . First, he mentioned the tapes in the tweet and he doesnt have the courage to talk about this them when confronted with them . Cant answer a question. When hes talking about loyalty, lets play a tape here, youre the fbi director with tenyear terms. According to reports heres some of the conversations that have din der. Lets talk about your tenure as fbi tenure in the midst of the higher profile investigations in years, higher profile than clinton investigation and lets talk about whether youre loyal to the president. Hmm. In the midst of a conversation of whether you remain as fbi director and tell me, mr. Director, am i understand investigation . If you take these questions in isolation you might say its appropriate to ask one of my subordinates if they are loyal. If you put them in combination, youve got to say this is another version of corruption. Thats the president sending a signal that unless you do what i want in this investigation youre out and it turns out thats what happened what kind of question is that to ask the fbi director, are you loyal to the United States . Are you loyal to the country. Its inappropriate. We know whats going on here. Its inappropriate, and donald trump was trying to say, well, it depends how you interpret what loyalty means. Remember what his coauthor of the art of the deal said, request tony schwartz. He had invent a term, truthful hyperbole, because he kept lying all the time and this is what were hearing all the time now. Well, what do you mean by loyalty . What i meant, its not a bad question, but i meant loyalty to the question. No, he didnt, because he knew that comey was loyal to the country. Were setting up a contrast with an individual james comey for all criticism against him is known as someone who is a straight shooter, unimpeachable truth telling and integrity. What happens when the president starts tweeting at 7 561 a. M. , then 7 563 and 7 59, 8 07, 8 26, 8 50. He had a busy morning tweeting. All right, guys, stand by. Much more on the breaking news right after this. Get two servings of veggies . V8 or a powdered drink . Ready, go. 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He means book direct at choicehotels. Com for the lowest price on our rooms guaranteed. Plus earn free nights and instant rewards at checkin. Yeah. Like i said. Book now at choicehotels. Com were back with our specialists. Other Top White House aides they keep citing statements made by the former director of National Intelligence James Clapper as proof there was no clowe lose between Trump Associates and clapper was on msnbc saying this. It was not surprising or abnormal that i would not have known about the investigation or even more importantly the content of that investigation, so i dont know if there was collusion or not. I dont know if theres evidence of collusion or not, nor should i have in this particular context. And you are not intending to clear to convict or to clean anyone of collusion. It just was outside of your scope. Thats correct. Your reaction . Its outside of his scope, so the fact that the president was use clapper to say theres no there there, theres no story, this is all ridiculous doesnt hold water. He didnt poke holes through it and drove a mack truck through that line of argument and when sean spicer was asked about it. You have to ask clapper, asked and answered. As an intelligence official hes not supposed to know about Law Enforcement investigations, domestic investigations of u. S. Citizens, and he said he didnt even know that the fbi had launched a criminal investigation as far back as july. He hasnt been on the grab suns donald trump was inaugurated president. The white house is essentially cherry picking, right, cherry picking what clapper said at one point and not paying attention to what clapper said today. You can see that in the press Conference Today with sean spicer saying clapper is being misleading. Hes changing his story, but, in fact, its the white house who is being misleading, and donald trump is hanging on to this testimony from clapper earlier on and hanging on to some comments made by grassley. This is their big defense. They are hanging on to him, but, again, its they are cherry picking and its misleading in terms of what clapper actually said and what he would actually know. What white house officials are saying he was the top intelligence official knit United States and he says he didnt see theres any evidence. They are either lying or lazy. Intel 101. Let me take you into it. If youre in clappers position, what are they saying about their interactions with americans. At the fbi youre looking at witnesses and looking at phone records and determining what they were doing at that time. Clapper doesnt have insight into that. Thats a federal bureau investigation. Its not part of the intel process. The white house, if they asked, would know about that. You know, later on in the interview with andrea mitchell, he talked about some evidence. Right. But it was not evidence that they had high confidence in so maybe he did see a little bit in his investigation but nothing with high confidence,ing into he thought was evidence of collusion. Yeah. Not hard evidence. Susan, how do they clean this up right now . Let this investigation go forward with credibility . Well, first, they will have to appoint an independent credible fbi director. This will be an incredibly difficult confirmation fight. He might have to appoint a democrat or someone acceptable to both parties in order to get this passed and the other element they will have to appoint a special prosecutor in order to assure that this is a legitimate investigation with credibility. Notably if they dont do that, it might actually harm President Trump because if nobody believes in the integrity of the investigation no, one is going to believe the integrity of the outcome so even if it clears him, if he doesnt take these steps to preserve that legitimacy, it might end up harming him in the long term. But the Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein doesnt think that theres a need for a special prosecutor. Prior to this week Rod Rosenstein had a very strong reputation and served as u. S. Attorney under both obama and bush. You know, the issue is now that hes sort of complicit in the offering what was clearly a pretextural reason for comeys firing. Trump himself said that wasnt the reason and its imagine how rosensteins judgment can be seen as credible and independent moving forward. Everybody stick around. Coming up. Much more on breaking news. Top democrats are already asking the white house to turn over any recordings or conversations over at the white house. Do such recordings exist . Other president s tried it. They ended up regretting t. Listen up, heart disease. you too, unnecessary er visits. And hey, unmanaged depression, dont get too comfortable. Were talking to you, cost inefficiencies and data without insights. And fragmented care stop getting in the way of patient recovery and pay attention. Every single one of you is on our list. For those who wont rest until the world is healthier, neither will we. Optum. How well gets done. Sfx engine revving silence termites, were on the move. 24 7. Roger. Hey rick, all good . Oh yeah, were good. Were good. Termites never stop trying to get in, we never stop working to keep them out. Terminix. Defenders of home. Whoa,i just had to push one button to join. Its like im in the office with you, even though im here. Its almost like the Virtual Reality of business communications. No, its reality. Intuitive one touch Video Conferencing is a reality. And now its included at no additional cost with vonage business. Call now and see why 3,000 companies a month are switching to vonage. Business grade. People friendly. Were following breaking news. President trumps astonishing hint he may have recorded his conversationes with the fbi director, james comey. If such recordings exist, members of Congress Already want them. Brian todd has been looking into this for us. Brian, what are you learning . There is significant pressure on the wlohite house to back up what the president tweeted this morning. This letter we just obtained from top House Democrats john con years and elijah cummings, ranking members from the judiciary and oversight committees, asking the white house to hand over recordings from President Trump and james comey. Key questions tonight, do any tapes exist and is there capability at the white house to record those conversations . Fz. President trumps threat to his fired fbi director isnt subtle. Quote, james comey better hope there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press, mr. Trump tweeted. The white house denies its a threat. But were any of the president s conversationes with comey taped . Ive talked to the president and the president has nothing further to add on that. President trump says there were three con ver sayings between him and his fbi director. Two phone calls and a one on one dinner they had at the white house on january 27th. Press Secretary Sean Spicer didnt answer when asked if there was capability at the white house to tape conversations. Former white house staffers tell us the Technical Capability exists for the president to tape phone conversations but thats different from a builtin system from president s kennedy, johnson and nixon. Amidst nixons recordings, how to push back on the water gate investigation. That taping system was shut down in summer of 197 3 at the height of the water gate scandal. The press or media didnt know anything about the taping systems. Until alexander butterfield, white house aide, in july of 1973, told the senate water gate committee, told the staff, that there was a taping system. That point, Richard Nixon had the opportunity to destroy the tapes. He decided not to. As for one on onebetween tru white house, former staffers tell us they dont know of any built in systems in the dining rooms to tape conversations. They say the president could bring in a recording device or have an aide take notes on the conversation but it is unlikely he would. Could comey have taped the phone conversations on his end . We got no comment from the fbi. Former top Bureau Officials tell us that would only be allowed if the president himself was under investigation. Which trump says hes not. And if the fbi chief got a warrant to tape him. I cannot imagine that happening. Bi director does not tape conversations with the president or members of the hill or staff members. I cannot see that happening. And again, as we just reported, if there are tapes between trump and comey recorded at the white house, there is now significant pressure tonight on mr. Trump and his team to produce those. This letter we obtained from top House Democrats john con years and elijah cummings. They are calling on the white house to hand over copies of any recordings, documents, any communications between the president and comey in this matter. So far tonight, wolf, no comment from the white house on this letter. Brian, if there are recordings, can the president , can President Trump delete them . It doesnt look like he can, wolf. At least not without permission. President ial records act requires that any conversation eats the white house be archived, any taped conversations be archived, unless the president gets special permission to not submit them to archives. If that exists at the white house, real pressure on the president to save them and turn them over. Brian todd reporting for us. Thank you. Coming up, more on the top stories. President trump threatens the fired fbi director saying james comey quote better hope there are no tapes of our conversations. Does the president have such recordings . What about the recordings . That i cant talk about. I wont talk about that. Or you could push that button. [dong] [rocket launching] skip the bank, skip the paperwork, and go completely online. Securely share your financial info and confidently get an accurate mortgage solution in minutes. Lift the burden of getting a home loan with Rocket Mortgage by quicken loans. [whisper rocket] happening now, threatening comey. In an extraordinary tweet, trump makes a thinly veiled threat against the fb i director he just fired days ago. It is says there is no mincing words so what did he mean . The president suggests there may be tapes of his conversations with comey but later says he cant talk about it. Now lawmakers are asking for copies of any recordings of mr. Trump and comey. Will the white house turn them over . Demanding loyalty. Cnn is learning details of a white house dinner in which President Trump asked fbi director comey to pledge his loyalty while comey is overseeing the investigation into ties between russia and the Trump Campaign. How did comey respond . And accuracy . Maybe. As the president top aides keep up with the shifting narrative of firing james comey. Mr. Trump says he is so active it is impossible for his sur gates to be perfectly a
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