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By Jack Crowe
The House Intelligence Committee sent a letter to the White House Thursday threatening to subpoena for access to any documentation related to conversations between President Donald Trump and former FBI Director James Comey.
GOP Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas and ranking Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California said in a joint statement that their letter “[made] clear that should the White House not respond fully, the committee will consider using compulsory process to ensure a satisfactory response.”
In response to speculation surrounding Comey’s firing in May, the president sent out a tweet alluding to the existence of recordings of private conversations that he had with Comey.
James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017
Trump later denied the existence of recordings in a June tweet, but intel committee leadership said that Trump’s tweeted denial was not a sufficient response to their inquiry.
…whether there are "tapes" or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2017
“By only referring to the President’s statement, the White House’s letter stops short of clarifying for the Committee whether the White House has any responsive recordings, memoranda, or other documents,” Conaway and Schiff said Thursday in reference to a letter that the White House sent in response to the committee’s initial request for the recordings.
