US President Donald Trump has denied making or possessing recordings of private chats with his fired FBI chief James Comey despite earlier hints to the contrary.

Mr Trump said he "did not make, and do not have, any such recordings" of the conversations in a tweet on Thursday.

The president has disputed Mr Comey's assertion that he asked the former FBI director for a pledge of loyalty during a dinner meeting they had.

When news of Mr Comey's account broke, Mr Trump tweeted that Mr Comey "better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"

Under a post-Watergate law, presidential recordings belong to the people and eventually can be made public. Destroying them would be a crime.

The House committee investigating Russian meddling in the election set a Friday deadline for the White House to hand over any tapes.