Republicans and Democrats agree: If Trump has tapes, he’ll need to turn them over to Congress

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

Lawmakers in both parties said Sunday that President Trump will need to hand over any recordings of conversations in the White House if such a taping system does exist.

Trump suggested Friday that he taped private White House conversations with then-FBI Director James B. Comey, who was abruptly fired last week, and White House officials have not confirmed or denied the existence of a recording system.

The nondenials have intensified calls by Democrats for an independent, nonpartisan special prosecutor to investigate Russian meddling in the 2016 election. And several key Republicans and Democrats said Sunday that any recordings of White House conversations will need to be preserved for congressional review.

“If there are any tapes of this conversation, they need to be turned over,” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a former federal prosecutor, said “it’s probably inevitable” that such recordings would need to be handed over to Congress and predicted that they would be subpoenaed. Asked on “Fox News Sunday” about Trump’s decision to set up a taping system, Lee called it “not necessarily the best idea.”

 

[Comey associates dispute Trump’s account of conversations]

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that if such tapes exist, “the president should turn them over immediately.”

“To destroy them would be a violation of law. But he should turn them over to Congress and to the investigators,” Schumer told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “If there are no tapes, he should apologize to both Jim Comey and the American people for misleading them.”

Appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” Sen. Mark R. Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said his panel or another congressional committee “absolutely” would subpoena Trump for such recordings.

“We have got to make sure that these tapes, if they exist, don’t mysteriously disappear,” Warner said.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that he would “absolutely” call for subpoenas of any such recordings.

Calls for the release of recordings came as new polling showed opposition to Trump’s decision to dismiss Comey. An NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll found that just 29 percent of Americans said they approve of the decision; 38 percent said they disapprove. About 32 percent of respondents said they didn’t have enough information to answer. But among those who have been paying “a lot” of attention to the firing, 53 percent said they disapprove; 33 percent approved.

 

[Trump has a long history of secretly recording calls, according to former associates]

Schumer said Sunday that Democrats are poised for an aggressive political fight if Trump nominates a partisan figure to lead the FBI. In his interview, Schumer also said that he supports blocking Trump’s eventual nominee until the Justice Department names a special prosecutor to investigate Russia’s meddling.

“We will have to discuss it as a caucus, but I would support that move, because who the FBI director is, is related to who the special prosecutor is,” the Democrat said, noting that Warner, whose committee is also conducting a Russia probe, also supports the appointment of a special prosecutor.

While notable, Schumer’s threat may be a bit toothless: Republicans have 52 seats in the Senate, and a rules changes made in 2013 by Democrats means that whomever Trump nominates only requires a simple majority vote to be confirmed. But the Democratic leader’s comments signal that any Trump pick is likely to face a politically charged confirmation fight and that Justice Department leaders can expect to continue facing pressure to name an independent prosecutor.

Graham dismissed calls by Democrats for a special prosecutor or independent commission to probe the Russia allegations, saying that ongoing congressional probes and the Justice Department investigation should suffice.

“It’s not a criminal investigation. I see no need for a special commission yet,” he said.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/republicans-and-democrats-agree-if-trump-has-tapes-hell-need-to-turn-them-over-to-congress/2017/05/14/cbfea12a-38b6-11e7-a058-ddbb23c75d82_story.html?utm_term=.fc0d74f72fb2

[Senate’s Russia investigation is moving faster

[spookyturtle 9,465]

They've already disappeared if in fact they ever existed. 

[IAMX 3,055]

"If such tapes exist"

 

Guilty!

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

1 hour ago, spookyturtle said:

They've already disappeared if in fact they ever existed. 

They were "tapes" and not tapes so who knows. This president and his tweets creates more drama than a 13 yo girl after a breakup

[spookyturtle 9,465]

22 minutes ago, ccneat said:

They were "tapes" and not tapes so who knows. This president and his tweets creates more drama than a 13 yo girl after a breakup

Tweeting is for twits. 

[ready4ONE 5,400]

2 hours ago, IAMX said:

"If such tapes exist"

 

Guilty!

Are you calling the so-called president a lier? You might get your Trumpeteer card pulled!

[IAMX 3,055]

2 hours ago, ready4ONE said:

Are you calling the so-called president a lier? You might get your Trumpeteer card pulled!

Quite a show of intellect handing out Trumpeteer cards to Gary Johnson voters. 

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

1 hour ago, IAMX said:

Quite a show of intellect handing out Trumpeteer cards to Gary Johnson voters. 

Better yet...wasting your vote helped Hillary get a a 3 million popular vote win and shaved Trumps electoral  victory . good job!  

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Reminder: Dear Leader has decreed that he actually won the popular vote, but millions of illegals stole that sweet sweet victory from him. Not to worry, Congress is investigating and one day the record will be set right. This is one investigation that will be worth every penny!

 

(Nope, no delusion in the Oval Office.)

[jg121783 3,907]

1 hour ago, ready4ONE said:

Reminder: Dear Leader has decreed that he actually won the popular vote, but millions of illegals stole that sweet sweet victory from him. Not to worry, Congress is investigating and one day the record will be set right. This is one investigation that will be worth every penny!

 

(Nope, no delusion in the Oval Office.)

And the democrats believe the Russians stole the election. That claim has been investigated for at least 6 months and no evidence has been found. You want to talk about investigations that are a waste of money this is a prime example.

[eieio 1,594]

And comey decided not to testify at the hearing. 

 

Trump has him figured out.  Here is to the next FBI director reopening the investigation on Hillary. 

[ready4ONE 5,400]

12 hours ago, jg121783 said:

And the democrats believe the Russians stole the election. That claim has been investigated for at least 6 months and no evidence has been found. You want to talk about investigations that are a waste of money this is a prime example.

Does someone else believing something you 'think' is stupid make you feel better defending the so called president's delusional claim that he lost the popular vote due to millions of illegals voting against him? Surely you know how stupid and false the illegal vote claim is? If not defend it, don't try and deflect.

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

13 hours ago, jg121783 said:

And the democrats believe the Russians stole the election. That claim has been investigated for at least 6 months and no evidence has been found. You want to talk about investigations that are a waste of money this is a prime example.

Off topic but Who believes the Russians "stole" the election and did they need to steal the election to have an investigation as to what happened?  Because something happened and if we dont get our act together it will happen again.

[bcking 3,157]

SNL said it well this past weekend.

 

Nothing matters anymore. Trump could openly admit to obstruction of justice and there is a decently large cohort of people (on these forums and elsewhere) who wouldn't care. They would come up with an excuse, or just shrug. Perhaps "obstruction" would just be kept in quotations and therefore it wouldn't matter.

 

 

[IAMX 3,055]

Something happened in the election guys, we don't know what.. can't prove anything really did happen, but it happened. We better watch out! Democracy under attack by an elected President dictator.