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Trump tweets that sacked FBI boss James Comey 'better hope' there are no 'tapes' of their talks

Sacked FBI Director James Comey
Sacked FBI Director James Comey Sacked FBI Director James Comey

President Trump has tweeted that former FBI director James Comey "better hope" that there are no "tapes" of their talks.

He wrote early on Friday: "James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"

Mr Trump fired Mr Comey on Tuesday, later saying that "he wasn't doing a good job".

In the termination letter to Mr Comey, Mr Trump thanked him for telling him "three times" that he personally is not under investigation for collusion with Russia during his 2016 campaign.

He said in an NBC News interview on Thursday that Mr Comey told him once over dinner and twice by telephone that he is not under investigation.

Mr Trump showed no concern that the request might be viewed as interference in an active FBI probe.

Mr Comey has not commented since he was fired.

Mr Trump also reiterated his view that reports about collusion with the Russian government are "fabricated".

The president tweeted: "Again, the story that there was collusion between the Russians & Trump campaign was fabricated by Dems as an excuse for losing the election."

He said: "The Fake Media is working overtime today!"

Mr Trump contradicted previous White House explanations for the firing of Mr Comey..

Mr Trump said in an interview with NBC News that he had planned to fire Mr Comey all along, regardless of the recommendations of top Justice Department officials.

Initially the White House cited a Justice Department memo criticising Mr Comey's handling of last year's investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails as the impetus for Mr Trump's decision.

On Capitol Hill, acting FBI director Andrew McCabe strongly disputed the White House's assertion that Mr Comey had been fired in part because he had lost the confidence of the FBI's rank-and-file.

In the NBC interview, Mr Trump derided Mr Comey as a "showboat" and "grandstander" and said he had left the FBI in "virtual turmoil".

Mr Trump later said his busy schedule makes it "not possible" for his staff to speak at the podium with "perfect accuracy" as he defended his administration's struggle to come up with a consistent timeline and rationale for the firing of Mr Comey.

He tweeted: "As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy!"

He added: "Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future 'press briefings' and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy???"