House Demands Trump Tapes Of Comey Conversation (If They Exist), And Other Trump News From Today
Thursday, May 12th. Day 113.
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Top Stories
House Dems Tell Trump To Hand Over Comey Tapes If They Exist: In the wake of Trump tweeting the potential existence of recordings of his and former FBI Director James Comey's conversations, House Democrats are demanding they be turned over if they exist. In a letter sent to the White House, Democrats accuse Trump of intimidating a potential witness (Comey is to testify in front of the Senate on Tuesday, but the House has yet to request testimony from him), and demanded all documents relating to Comey's dismissal.
White House Refuses To Clarify Weird Trump Tweet: During Friday's White House press briefing, Sean Spicer refused to clarify President Trump's tweet that suggested his conversations with former FBI Director Comey were recorded.
A letter from Trump's legal team attested that the President's taxes did not show Russian income… with a few exceptions. The two primary exceptions listed are Trump's Miss Universe 2013 (held in Moscow) earnings, a sale of an estate in Florida to a Russian for $95 million:
Trump Duels With Comey Over Dinner Conversation: President Trump is still kicking up dust over his firing of former FBI Director James Comey. Thursday, he gave Lester Holt an account of a dinner he had with Comey in which he asked about his own investigation. According to The New York Times, Comey has told multiple people that Trump in fact explicitly asked for his loyalty.
Sessions Revokes Policy Preventing Mandatory Minimums: Attorney General Jeff Sessions has rolled back a practice of the previous administration to not specify the quantity of drugs in charges to avoid mandatory minimum sentences. Sessions issued a memo instructing prosecutors to charge to the fullest extent of the law.
Other Stories
US And China Reach Deal On US Exports Reuters
Mnuchin Starts Review Of Volcker Rules, May Ease Regulations On Big Banks Bloomberg
Trump's Tweets
Seemingly in response to Comey's account of the dinner, Trump threateningly tweeted that Comey "better hope that there are no 'tapes'":
Earlier, Trump rejected accusations of any collusion with Russia, blaming the narrative on the media and threatening to take away White House press briefings:
Trump then touted the trade victory that he achieved with China, which was reported today.
Here's what happened Thursday.
