How Comey is Winning the Credibility Battle With Trump

At first glance, you might think that President Trump and former FBI Director James Comey are at a standoff over who said what during their one-on-one meetings.  It looks like a he said/he said situation.  But Comey wrote memos about the conversations right afterwards.  These tilt the balance in favor of Comey.  While his critics might say his memos were self-serving, it's implausible to think he wove them from whole cloth.  The President doesn't appear to have any memos.

But the crucial factor would appear to be the issue of tape recordings.  The President alluded to recordings, saying "James Comey better hope there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"  Comey called Trump's hand by saying he hoped there were recordings.  The Secret Service has now said it doesn't have any recordings--and the Secret Service would be the organization that would handle the recordation of conversations in the White House.  See http://nypost.com/2017/06/12/secret-service-says-they-have-no-comey-tapes/.  If there are no recordings, that would mean that Trump tried to bluff Comey into silence by hinting untruthfully about recordings that don't exist.  Trump's bluff would only undermine his own credibility.  

Of course, it's possible Trump recorded the conversation on a personal device, such as a smart phone. But if he has a recording that contradicts Comey, he surely would have released it by now.  But he hasn't revealed any recording.  Thus, Trump can only have a recording that supports Comey, or he's erased that recording (which would indicate the recording hurt Trump), or he doesn't have a personal recording (which means he lied about there being one).  Whatever is the case, Comey's winning the credibility battle with Trump.