president made the big reveal on twitter, naturally, with more than a dash of blame deflection. with all of the recently reported electronic surveillance intercepts, unmasking, and illegal leaking of information, i have no idea whether there are tapes or recordiangs of my conversations with james comey. but i did not make and do not have any such recordings. >> in other words, never mind his may 12th tweet out of nowhere. "james comey better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press." why reveal this now? a senior administration official tells cnn it became clear the president had to come clean before a congressional deadline to hand over comey tapes. if they exist by today, the official says the president has been amused by all the obsessing over the tapes. another associate of the president told cnn if he doesn't regret this, he should. for more let's bring in cnn's