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Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah
One thing that I find very puzzling, the whole issue of the tapes. Is there any good reason to not just answer yes or no? Surely Trump knows if his conversations are taped. If he comes out now and says no he appears like the biggest jerk. On the other hand if he says yes then why wait? It would have been much more powerful to respond to Comey's testimony by releasing the tapes. Is he trying to destroy the tapes? That is going to blow up in his face. So I don't get it.
The other thing I find interesting is if Sessions will claim executive privilege. On one hand the WH is complaining about all the hubbub of the media, the best way to put a stop to it is to simply answer the questions. But if they claim executive privilege this will go on for months as they legislate every single question and whether or not Sessions has the right to executive privilege.
Trump has complete power to put an end very quickly to all the speculation -- release the tax returns and the tapes. So why is this current situation a better choice for Trump than just putting an end to it?
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I think I figured this out.
Suppose Trump does have tapes, it is a lot better that he warned people before they went on record and testified, which he did with his tweet. However, instead of just releasing it immediately he can give the pundits time to speculate so that he can completely humiliate them. So, if Trump has tapes and they support his statement that "I didn't say that" then this is not a bad strategy.
However, he now has to have tapes. If he now claims he doesn't have tapes he looks like a child and a jerk for stringing everyone along. Also many people won't believe him and will decide that the long period of time that it took to answer the question was time for him to get rid of the tapes. Speculation will get worse.
That said, Trump's tweet about the tapes actually emboldened Comey since it wouldn't just be "he said, he said" but rather it could be corroborated. So it is very likely that the tweet about the tapes resulted in the leak (Comey said it did), the special prosecutor (Comey said it did) and Comey's hearing. So then if the tapes corroborate Comey it will be a spectacularly bad strategy on Trump's part. This last scenario would actually vindicate the comparisons of him to a child.
Now suppose Trump fires the special prosecutor, which is the latest speculation. If he has the tapes to prove he is innocent why would you do that knowing it would create an incredible back lash with the media being whipped into a frenzy and protests and marches?
The only good reason to fire him is if you do not have the tapes to prove you are innocent. You can't complain about media hype when you do stuff that just fans the flames and throws gasoline on the fire. Also, it would by a short-lived victory. The outrage we are seeing in the town halls would explode at the polls.
So it seems to me if Trump fires the prosecutor he is guilty and will be thrown out at the next election (midterms, Democrats take control and vote to impeach).