Sean Spicer refuses to say whether Donald Trump is taping conversations at the White House

Impact

Three days after President Donald Trump suggested he had taped conversations between himself and now-former FBI Director James Comey, White House press secretary Sean Spicer still refuses to say whether Trump does, in fact, record conversations at the White House.

Spicer was pressed by NBC's Hallie Jackson at Monday's briefing to give a yes or no answer on whether Trump records his conversations in the White House.

Yet Spicer repeatedly refused to say.

"Why won't you just explain whether or not there are recordings of conversations?" Jackson asked.

"I think the president has made it clear what his position is," Spicer responded.

"Given that you refuse to confirm or deny any of this, how is a senior official supposed to feel comfortable having a conversation privately with the president?" Jackson said.

"The president has made it clear what his position is," Spicer said, shutting down the line of questioning.

Trump has a history of recording conversations he had with business associates. "There was never any sense with Donald of the phone being used for private conversation," John O'Donnell, former president the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, told the Washington Post.

Trump's suggestion that he records conversations at the White House has led to comparisons to the late President Richard Nixon. 

Nixon, who resigned from office in disgrace, taped his conversations in the White House. The deletion of an 18-minute segment of tape fueled cover-up rumors of the Watergate spy scandal.