Former FBI Director Comey's Statement for the Record for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, released 6/7/17, in part says the following:
April 11 Phone Call
On the morning of April 11, the President called me and asked what I had done about his request that I “get out” that he is not personally under investigation. I replied that I had passed his request to the Acting Deputy Attorney General, but I had not heard back. He replied that “the cloud” was getting in the way of his ability to do his job. He said that perhaps he would have his people reach out to the Acting Deputy Attorney General. I said that was the way his request should be handled. I said the White House Counsel should contact the leadership of DOJ to make the request, which was the traditional channel.
He said he would do that and added, “Because I have been very loyal to you, very loyal; we had that thing you know.” I did not reply or ask him what he meant by “that thing.” I said only that the way to handle it was to have the White House Counsel call the Acting Deputy Attorney General. He said that was what he would do and the call ended.
That was the last time I spoke with President Trump.
The highlighted statement by President Trump tells me he recorded the conversation. His "..we had that thing you know," curiously, nefariously, and inexplicably includes the wiggle word "thing." That word, "thing" suggests to the listener(s) that there was some agreement between the President and Director Comey. The fact it's called a "thing" cries out for an explanation. Director Comey, in this memo, states he doesn't know what the President meant by the term. I would have liked the Director to ask the President, "What do you mean when you use the word, 'thing?' - but he did not. The President intentionally inserted that word, without explanation. He will try to use that statement in the future to his advantage, having created something on the record that only the he can define or interpret, and infer that Director Comey knew what the "thing" meant. It's an insurance policy and further tells me he has used this approach before.
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