Comey: ‘Lordy, I hope there are tapes’

Former FBI Director James Comey on Thursday said he was too “stunned” to respond to President Trump at an Oval Office meeting in which Comey alleges the president sought to bury the FBI investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

 

He also expressed his hope that his conversations with the president were recorded, saying: "Lordy, I hope there are tapes."

 

During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Sen. Dianne FeinsteinDianne Emiel FeinsteinCardiology, airplanes, HD-TV and the filibuster Amy Coney Barrett emerges as favorite on right, target for left Election Countdown: Calls to abolish ICE test Dem candidates | First round of House GOP 'Young Guns' | How Tester is handling Trump's Montana visit | Dem candidate won't back Schumer as leader | Super PACs ramp up Missouri ad buys MORE (D-Calif.) pressed Comey about why he didn’t stand up to Trump.

 

“You are big, you are strong,” Feinstein said. “I know the Oval Office and I know what happens to people when they walk in. There is a certain amount of intimidation. Why didn't you stop and say, 'Mr. President, this is wrong, I cannot discuss this with you?'”

 

Comey said he was too “stunned” to respond and that he was running through his mind how he would document the encounter afterwards.

 

“I was so stunned by the conversation that I just took it in and the only thing I could think to say, because I was playing in my mind to remember every word he said, I was playing in my mind, what should my response be?" Comey said.

 

“That's why I very carefully chose the words. I’ve seen the tweet about tapes," he said, referring to a tweet in which Trump suggested "Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” 

 

"Lordy, I hope there are tapes," Comey continued. "Again, maybe other people would be stronger in that circumstance. That's how I conducted myself. I hope I never have another opportunity, maybe if I did it again I would do it better.”