Secret Service Has No Audio or Transcripts of Any Tapes Made in Trump White House
Agency’s response to FOIA request doesn’t exclude possibility of recordings created by other entity
Louise RadnofskyJune 12, 2017 2:26 p.m. ET
President Donald Trump giving an interview from the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., in February. Photo: jonathan ernst/Reuters
By
Louise Radnofsky
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Secret Service has no audio copies or transcripts of any tapes recorded within President Donald Trump’s White House, the agency said on Monday.
The agency’s response to a freedom of information request submitted by The Wall Street Journal doesn’t exclude the possibility that recordings could have been created by another entity.
The Secret Service handled recording systems within the White House for past presidents, including Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
The question of a White House recording system has lingered for more than a month since Mr. Trump first raised the possibility
in a provocative tweet about former FBI Director James Comey.
In recent days, the two men have offered differing accounts of whether Mr. Trump asked Mr. Comey in private conversations within the White House complex
to ease off the FBI’s probe of former national security adviser Mike Flynn.
On Friday,
Mr. Trump kept the tapes mystery alive, telling reporters in the White House Rose Garden, “I’ll tell you about that maybe sometime in the very near future.” He added, “Oh, you’re going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer, don’t worry.”
White House aides have declined to answer questions about whether there are tapes, with press secretary Sean Spicer saying he was “not aware” and his deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, saying she didn’t know and then quipping she would “look under the couches” to check. At a cabinet meeting Monday, Mr. Trump didn’t respond to a shouted question from a reporter about whether there were tapes.
And at the White House daily briefing on Monday, Mr. Spicer said: “The president made clear in the Rose Garden last week that he would have an announcement shortly.”
The Secret Service on Monday sent its reply to a May 15 request from the Journal that sought recordings or transcripts of any recordings made after Jan. 20 within the White House.
“In response to your request, the Secret Service has conducted a reasonable search for responsive records,” the agency wrote. “It appears, from a review of Secret Service’s main indices, that there are no records pertaining to your request that are referenced in these indices.”
Such records would typically be subject to the Presidential Records Act, and turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration at the end of a president’s time in office.
The National Archives and Records Administration said in response to a request from the Journal that any presidential records aren’t subject to FOIA while the president is in office.
Most parts of the White House itself are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.
Write to Louise Radnofsky at
louise.radnofsky@wsj.com