Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations: Trump

US President Donald Trump on Friday warned fired FBI chief James Comey against leaking their private conversations to the media.

"James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!", Trump said in a tweet.

Comey, who was leading an inquiry into possible collusion between Trump election campaign officials and Russia, was fired on Tuesday.

Trump has since insisted he was told by Comey that he was not under investigation, Fox News reported.

The US President said he had been told twice by Comey over dinner and once over the phone that he was not a target of the inquiry.

"I had a dinner with him, he wanted to have dinner because he wanted to stay on," Trump said.

"...And I said, 'I'll consider we'll see what happens'... And at that time he told me, 'You're not under investigation,' which I knew anyway," said Trump.

Trump added: "In one case I asked him... He said: 'You are not under investigation'."

The US President, speaking to NBC News on Thursday, gave his first in-depth remarks since the surprise ousting of Comey earlier this week.

"Look he's a showboat, he's a grandstander," Trump said.

"The FBI has been in turmoil. You know that I know that. Everybody knows that. You take a look at the FBI a year ago, it was in virtual turmoil -- less than a year ago. It hasn't recovered from that."
READ MORE

Donald Trump sacks FBI director James Comey: Read full letter

In a surprise move, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday fired FBI Director James Comey - who was leading an investigation into alleged links between Trump's team and Russia

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement that Comey has been 'terminated and removed from office.' Trump was said to have acted on "clear recommendations" from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

In a separate letter, Rosenstein argued that it was his transgressions over the Clinton email investigation that were the cause of his dismissal, while laying out the reasons for Comey's firing.

Comey was also accused of attempting to "usurp the attorney general's authority" by publicly announcing why he felt the case should be closed without prosecution.

Accoring to the New York Times, James Comey thought his firing was a prank.

While addressing a group of FBI employees in Los Angeles, Comey saw a television flash news that he had been fired. In response, Comey laughed.

Shortly thereafter, a letter from Trump was delivered to the FBI's headquarters.

Below is President Donald Trump's full letter to James Comey terminating him from the position of FBI director, dated May 9, 2017.
READ MORE