The White House reportedly restricted access to transcripts of President Donald Trump’s calls with Russia and Saudi Arabia.
CNN reported on Friday night that the transcripts of Trump’s calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman were not circulated among administration officials, as they should have been.
One of CNN’s unnamed sources said that Trump had the call with bin Salman amid the fallout of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi death, which was allegedly orchestrated by the Saudi government.
Access to records of at least one of the President’s calls with Putin was similarly restricted, according to CNN.
The report comes on the heels of an explosive whistleblower complaint alleging that top White House officials had gone through extraordinary lengths to “lock down” Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July. According to the whistleblower, the officials had moved the call records to an electronic storage system meant only to store documents of an “especially sensitive nature,” but the officials had done so only to protect Trump from the political ramifications of the call.
However, CNN could not confirm whether transcripts of Trump’s calls with Putin and bin Salman were placed in the same electronic storage system.
