Updated June 23, 2017 08:10:52

Photo: Mr Trump first raised the prospect on Twitter that recordings might exist. (Reuters: Eric Thayer)

As far as self-inflicted wounds go, this one's a doozy.

After weeks of speculation, Donald Trump has declared he doesn't have tapes of his conversations with ex-FBI director James Comey.

It was Mr Trump who, on Twitter, first raised the prospect that recordings might exist.

But after weeks of avoiding questions and teasing the press, as promised, he's left many disappointed.

One Democrat has described the ordeal as "surreal". Someone else says it's another example of the President's "willingness to just kind of make things up".

The White House argues that Mr Trump's Twitter account is a "direct pipeline" to the American people — often touting his millions of followers.

James Comey's conclusions and observations are based on instinct and an ingrained sense of protocol gained during a long career as a public servant, Washington correspondent Zoe Daniel writes.

However, the 109 characters that sparked the idea there might be tapes will continue to haunt his presidency.

It unleashed an explosive chain of events — Mr Trump's original tweet prompted Mr Comey to leak a memo of his conversation with the President to the press.

That then led to the appointment of a Special Counsel, which is reportedly now investigating the President for possible obstruction of justice.

It's quite the own goal.

But the real estate mogul is seasoned at salvaging a loss.

The national conversation today was building around Senate Republicans and the unveiling of their highly secretive and controversial health care bill.

That was until Mr Trump pumped out 270 characters and hit the little blue button.

Topics: donald-trump, world-politics, government-and-politics, social-media, internet-culture, information-and-communication, community-and-society, united-states

First posted June 23, 2017 07:53:26