The White House refused Monday to divulge any new details about President Trump’s promise to address questions about whether there were audio recordings of his conversations with then-FBI Director James B. Comey.
Fending off reporter’s questions about possible tapes, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the president would made an announcement “in due time.”
“I think the president made it clear what his intentions were on Friday,” he said, referring to Mr. Trump’s comment at a Rose Garden press conference that he would address the issue soon.
The president said that the press would be “disappointed” by his announcement, raising doubts about the existence of tapes.
“You’ll be very disappointed in the answer,” Mr. Trump said. “I’ll tell you something about that maybe sometime in the very near future.”
Mr. Spicer said the president wasn’t delaying addressing the issue.
“He’s not waiting for anything. When he’s ready to further discuss it he will,” Mr. Spicer said.
The president created the tape issue in a post on Twitter in which he accused Mr. Comey, whom he fired, of lying about their conversations and said the former FBI director should hope there aren’t any tapes.
The possibility of tapes have become a focus of the ongoing congressional investigations into allegations the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to tamper with the U.S. presidential election, and whether Mr. Trump attempted to interfere in an FBI investigation.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer has demanded Mr. Trump turn over the tapes or admit they don’t exist and agree to testify under oath before Congress.
“No more game-playing,” Mr. Schumer said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Mr. Trump and Mr. Comey have accused each other of lying about their conversations.
During sworn testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week, Mr. Comey repeatedly said the president had lied.
“Lordy, I hope there are tapes,” Mr. Comey said.
Although the president said Mr. Comey’s testimony overall vindicated him of allegations he colluded with Russia or obstructed the FBI investigation, Mr. Trump blasted him on Twitter.
“Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication…and WOW, Comey is a leaker!” he tweeted.
In the Rose Garden the next day, Mr. Trump expanded his comments.
“We were very, very happy, and, frankly, James Comey confirmed a lot of what I said, and some of the things that he said just weren’t true,” he said.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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