US lawmakers urge Trump to turn over any Comey tapes

WASHINGTON - Senior US legislators have asked President Donald Trump to turn over any recordings of conversations with ousted FBI director James Comey, international media reported.

Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer warned that shattering any tapes would be a violation of the law.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the White House should "clear the air" about whether tapes existed or not.

The comments follow a tweet of Trump what seemed to be a thinly veiled threat to the former FBI chief.

Last week, he warned Comey in a tweet as saying "better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking the press.

James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017

On the other hand, the White House has declined to confirm the existence of any tapes.

Schumer added that Senate Democrats might not take part in voting regarding a new FBI director until a name of special prosecutor is not announced to investigate alleged Russian involvement in the US election.

The FBI is investigating the issue of possible ties between Moscow and the Trump campaign in the US presidential elections.

However, Trump rebuked any such claims and said that Comey was fired because he was not doing a good job.

Democrats, however, have accused Trump of ousting Comey in order to halt the FBI inquiry against him.