In retrospect, Donald Trump’s impulsive tweet that former F.B.I. director James Comey “better hope that there are no ‘tapes’” of their conversations may have been the beginning of the end of his presidency—or at least one vision of it. Comey, whom Trump had fired just two days earlier, later testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee that it was that warning from the president that led him to leak his account of their exchanges, which he had documented in memos. “My judgment was that I needed to get that out into the public square,” he said, adding that he “thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel.” And it did: special counsel Robert Mueller is now leading the Justice Department’s investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and is believed to be looking into possible obstruction of justice by Trump, too.

This week, Trump conceded that his “tapes” tweet was, as many suspected, a bluff. “With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea whether there are ‘tapes’ or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings,” he tweeted Thursday.

It was an astounding admission: it is possible that Comey would have leaked his conversations with the president to the press regardless, but Trump’s tweet was the catalyst that gave Comey cover to push for the appointment of a special counsel. Now it may also become a key piece of evidence in Mueller’s case against him.

Trump, however, still sees himself as a victim, rather than the source of his own misery—and is blaming former president Barack Obama for driving him to post the infamous tweet. In an interview with Ainsley Earhardt of Fox & Friends that aired Friday morning, Trump said that he only tweeted about “tapes” because he feared his predecessor may have been spying on him. “You never know what’s happening when you see that the Obama administration, and perhaps longer than that, was doing all of unmasking and surveillance and you read all about it . . . the horrible situation with surveillance all over the place,” Trump said.

At the same time, it seemed Trump couldn’t help but give Mueller more ammo, agreeing with Earhardt’s comment that the “tapes” threat may have helped keep Comey “honest in those hearings.” He also told her that he thought warning Comey that he was potentially surveilled, “whether it’s governmental tapes or anything else,” may have led him to change his story.

Trump, as usual, continues to make his own problems worse, repeatedly putting himself in legal jeopardy by talking publicly about his efforts to pressure Comey, and damaging himself politically by taking the focus off his domestic agenda. “The Russia investigation is now the central narrative of the Trump administration, no matter what he does,” one outside Trump adviser told Mike Allen of Axios. “He wanted to be a disruptive force for change, and now he’s stuck in the quicksand of the swamp.”

Nor does it seem that the president is learning from his previous mistakes. While casting blame on everyone else, Trump is reportedly toying with the idea of firing Mueller—a move that would all but guarantee political catastrophe for the already historically unpopular president. When asked by Fox & Friends whether Mueller should recuse himself from the Russia probe, Trump demurred. “[H]e’s very, very good friends with Comey, which is very bothersome . . . we’ll have to see,” he said. “I can say that the people that have been hired are all Hillary Clinton supporters . . . I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous.”