Donald Trump says he wanted to keep James Comey honest. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Asked why he floated the idea that he had recorded conversations between himself and James Comey, President Donald Trump said he did it to pressure the former FBI director to keep his story straight.

Speaking in an interview with Ainsley Earhardt of Fox News that aired Friday, Trump first said he was generally suspicious of the FBI and intelligence apparatus in charge of the investigation into his presidential campaign's ties to Russia, saying "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."

Trump fired Comey, who as FBI director was leading the bureau's Russia investigation, on May 9. Three days later, Trump tweeted that Comey "better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"

In light of his suspicion, Trump said in Friday's interview, he suggested he may have taped Comey in an effort to keep him honest. "When he found out that I, you know, that there may be tapes out there, whether it's governmental tapes or anything else — and who knows — I think his story may have changed," Trump said.

Comey, for his part, seemed to be just as wary of his interactions with the president. Comey testified in front of the Senate earlier this month that he had written memos detailing his private interactions with Trump because he "was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting." "Lordy, I hope there are tapes," Comey said of the possibility of being recorded.

In Friday's interview, however, Trump drew attention to a different part of Comey's testimony, in which Comey for the first time publicly confirmed Trump's claim that the FBI under Comey had not investigated Trump personally in relation to its Russia investigation.

"He did admit that what I said was right," Trump told Earhardt. "And if you look further back, before he heard about that, I think maybe he wasn't admitting that."