The question about whether President Trump does or does not have 'tapes' of his private conversations with former FBI Director James Comey lingers.

In an effort to get answers, the Wall Street Journal submitted a freedom of information request for copies or transcripts of Trump-era White House recordings and was told by the U.S. Secret Service that neither exists.

The publication notes that the response "doesn't exclude the possibility that recordings could have been created by another entity."

RELATED: James Comey testifies on Russian interference in US election



18 PHOTOS James Comey testifies on Russian interference In US election See Gallery James Comey testifies on Russian interference In US election Former FBI Director James Comey is sworn in prior to testifying before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 8: People watch a ticker tape display showing headlines of the days news that former FBI Director James Comey will testify at a Senate hearingon Russia and U.S. President Donald Trump on June 8, 2017 in New York City. Comey said that President Donald Trump pressured him to drop the FBI's investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and demanded Comey's loyalty during the one-on-one meetings he had with president. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images) The witness table where former FBI Director James Comey will face the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee and testify on June 8 about his meetings with President Trump sits at the ready in Washington, U.S., June 7, 2017. REUTERS/Jim Bourg TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Senator Richard Burr, a Republican from North Carolina and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, center delivers opening remarks before the start of a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing with James Comey, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), not pictured, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, June 8, 2017. Comey in prepared remarks to the committee said U.S. President Donald Trump sought his loyalty and urged him to drop the investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Photographer: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg via Getty Images TOPSHOT - Former FBI Director James Comey arrives to testify during a US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington,DC, June 8, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Brendan Smialowski (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images) People wait in line hours aheads of time for the start of former FBI Director James Comey's testimony before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. June 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 08: Former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara attends the Senate Intelligence Committee where FBI Director James Comey is sent to testify in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill June 8, 2017 in Washington, DC. Comey said that President Donald Trump pressured him to drop the FBI's investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and demanded Comey's loyalty during the one-on-one meetings he had with president. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Former FBI Director James Comey prepares to testify before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on "Russian Federation Efforts to Interfere in the 2016 U.S. Elections" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. June 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jim Bourg People wait in line hours aheads of time for the start of former FBI Director James Comey's testimony before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. June 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst Preparations are made before former FBI Director James Comey testifies during a US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington,DC, June 8, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Brendan Smialowski (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images) James Comey, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is sworn in to a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, June 8, 2017. Comey in prepared remarks to the committee said U.S. President Donald Trump sought his loyalty and urged him to drop the investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Photographer: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg via Getty Images The gavel and placard for Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, a Republican from North Carolina, sit on a table in the hearing room ahead of testimony by former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, June 8, 2017. Comey in prepared remarks to the committee said U.S. President Donald Trump sought his loyalty and urged him to drop the investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Photographer: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg via Getty Images Former FBI Director James Comey testifies during a US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, June 8, 2017. Fired FBI director James Comey took the stand Thursday in a crucial Senate hearing, repeating explosive allegations that President Donald Trump badgered him over the highly sensitive investigation Russia's meddling in the 2016 election. / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) U.S. Capitol police officers stand outside the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing room ahead of testimony by former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, June 8, 2017. Comey in prepared remarks to the committee said U.S. President Donald Trump sought his loyalty and urged him to drop the investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Photographer: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg via Getty Images Former FBI Director James Comey arrives to testify during a US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington,DC, June 8, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Mandel NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) Senator Mark Warner(C)D-VA and Vice Chairman, Intelligence Committee and Senator Richard Burr(R), Chairman, Intelligence Committee greet former FBI Director James Comey as he arrives to testify during a US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington,DC, June 8, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Brendan Smialowski (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images) Former FBI Director James Comey takes the oath before he testifies during a US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington,DC, June 8, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Mandel NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) Former FBI Director James Comey takes the oath before he testifies during a US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington,DC, June 8, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Brendan Smialowski (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images) Up Next See Gallery Discover More Like This HIDE CAPTION SHOW CAPTION of SEE ALL BACK TO SLIDE

As of Monday afternoon, the White House was maintaining its non-committal stance on the topic.

At a press briefing on Monday, press secretary Sean Spicer was asked about the matter and responded, "The president made clear in the Rose Garden last week that he would have an announcement shortly."

When pressed for a more definitive timeline, Spicer said the statement would be released, "When the president's ready to make it."

President Trump's Rose Garden comment on the tapes was made Friday when he was asked, "do tapes exist of your conversations with him?"

RELATED: U.S. Secret Service through the years



26 PHOTOS U.S. Secret Service through the years See Gallery U.S. Secret Service through the years Spectators line the sides of Pennsylvania Avenue as U.S. Secret Service agents walk alongside the presidential limousine during the Inaugural Parade for U.S. President Donald J. Trump January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. Trump was sworn in today as the 45th president of the United States. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Members of the Secret Service are pictured before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States Friday -- capping his improbable journey to the White House and beginning a four-year term that promises to shake up Washington and the world. (ZACH GIBSON/AFP/Getty Images) U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division officers pose for a photo with the Budweiser Clydesdale horse outside the debate hall before the second 2016 presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, October 9, 2016. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson) A Secret Service agent stands watch as U.S. President Barack Obama arrives aboard the Marine One helicopter at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in New York, U.S. June 8, 2016. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst) U.S. Secret Service agents provide security for President Barack Obama and Air Force One in Peroria, Illinois, February 12, 2009. (REUTERS/Jim Young) U.S. Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama walks alongside a secret service agent to his car before a campaign rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 27, 2008. Federal agents have broken up a plot to assassinate Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people in a Tennessee murder spree, the ATF said on Monday. (REUTERS/Jason Reed) A U.S. Secret Service agent (C) steps in to intervene after Fox News Channel television talk show host Bill O'Reilly (L) shoved Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Barack Obama's National Trip Director Marvin Nicholson (R) while trying to get to the Senator at the end of a campaign rally in Nashua, New Hampshire, January 5, 2008. (REUTERS/Jim Bourg) U.S. President George W. Bush's pet dog, Spot, walks next to the president's U.S. Secret Service security detail after stepping off Marine One in Waco, July 21, 2003. The president and first lady were heading back to Washington on Air Force One after spending a long weekend at their Central Texas ranch outside Crawford. (REUTERS/Larry Downing) The new armored presidential limousine, which was debuted as part of the 56th Presidential Inauguration, is parked on display in a garage in the Secret Service headquarters in Washington February 5, 2009. (REUTERS/Molly Riley) A Secret Service agent waits for U.S. President Barack Obama, U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Malia and Sasha to board Marine One as they depart Yosemite National Park, California, U.S., June 19, 2016. (REUTERS/Joshua Roberts) US Secret Service keep watch from atop the Eisenhower Executive Office Building as US President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush walk across Pennslyvania Avenue to Blair House in Washington, DC, 09 July 2007 to attend a farewell party for Counselor to the President Dan Bartlett. (JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images) A US Secret Service agent watches as US President George W. Bush arrives in Marine One to the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, 07 July, 2006, after a trip to Illinois. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images) A US Secret Service agent keeps an eye on the audience as US President George W. Bush delivers the commencement address at Calvin College 21 May 2005 in the Calvin College Field House in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images) The presidential limousine, escorted by Secret Service personnel, moves along Pennsylvania Avenue following the second term inauguration of US President George W. Bush at the US Capitol (BACKGROUND) in Washington, DC. (DOUG MILLS/AFP/Getty Images) Secret Service personnel keep apace of the presidential limousine during the Inaugural Parade along Pennsylvania 20 January 2005 in Washington, DC. US President George W. Bush was sworn in for a second term as president of the United States 2 January 2005 under unprecedented security on the steps of the US Capitol. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images) Two Secret Service Agents stand outside a jet as National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice (R) is briefed on board by her deputy Stephen Hadley (L) at TSTC Airport prior to meeting with US President George W. Bush 26 July 2004 in Waco, Texas. Rice and Bush are expected to discuss the 911 Commission's report at Bush's 1,600 acre ranch in Crawford, Texas. (STEPHEN JAFFE/AFP/Getty Images) US Secret Service Officers from the Counter Assult Team (CAT) stand by with automatic weapons 09 October, 2003, in Manchester, New during a visit by US President George W. Bush to deliver two speeches. Bush defended his tax cut as the proper medicine for the ailing economy, and the war as the right remedy in Iraq. 'I acted because I was not about to leave the security of the American people in the hands of a madman. I was not about to stand by and wait and trust in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein,' he declared. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images) US Secret Service sharpshooters guard the arrival of US President Bill Clinton aboard Air Force One at Fort Lauderdale International Airport 10 December, 1999 in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The President is spending the day in Florida raising money for democratic candidates. (TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images) Secret Service agents keep watch from a balcony in the Old Executive Office building as President Bill Clinton walked over from the White House for a meeting with a Jewish group marking the 5th anniversary of the South Lawn handshake. (Photo by Harry Hamburg/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) Caroline Kennedy & secret service agent during Caroline Kennedy Playing Tennis In Central Park at Central Park in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage) Secret Service agents watching Franklin Roosevelt in 1937. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images) United States President Lyndon Johnson and members of the secret service exit the Marines 1 Presidential helicopter, 1965. (Photo by Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images) E.A. Wildy (left), of the Treasury Secret Service, gives a demonstration of Uncle Sam's latest lie detector, using M.R. Allen, secret service agent in charge of Washington, as his subject, before the United States Secret Service Men's convention here. The device, which looks like a super portable radio, is called the Keeler polygraph. Three long needles record the pulse, heart action and skin reaction of the subject on a graph. If you are not telling the truth, Uncle Sam will find out through this little instrument.



(Bettmann via Getty Images) John C. Babcock, a Secret Service man and Gimlet, a celebrated war horse of the Rappahannock, Maryland, 1862. (Photo by Alexander Gardner/Buyenlarge/Getty Images) Secret Service Department Headquarters, Army of the Potomac, Antietam, October 1862. Directed by Allan Pinkerton the ranks for the composition of his force. Whenever these men were captured they were hanged as spies. (Photo by Matthew Brady/Buyenlarge/Getty Images) Portrait of members of the US Army's Signals Intelligence Service, mid 1930s. Pictured are, from left, Herrick F. Bearce, Dr Solomon Kullback (1907 - 1994), US Army Captain Harold G. Miller (also identified in some sources as Herrod G. Miller), department head William F. Friedman (1891 - 1969)(standing), Louise Newkirk Nelson (also identified as Anna Louise Newkirk)(sitting), Dr Abraham Sinkov (1907 - 1998), US Coast Guard lieutenant L.D. Jones (also identified as L.T. Jones), and Frank B. Rowlett (1908 - 1998). (Photo by Fotosearch/Getty Images) Up Next See Gallery Discover More Like This HIDE CAPTION SHOW CAPTION of SEE ALL BACK TO SLIDE

"Well, I'll tell you about that maybe sometime in the very near future," Trump replied.

It was Trump who first alluded to the tapes' existence, notes CNN.

Just days after firing Comey, the president tweeted, "James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to 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

More from :

Sean Spicer refuses to say if President Trump has confidence in Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Top senator: The extent of Russia's election attacks 'is much broader than has been reported'

Michelle Obama calls out President Donald Trump in her WWDC chat