The White House has limited the number of officials who can listen to President Donald Trump’s calls.
This comes at a time when the impeachment proceedings have focused on one of his “diplomatic” calls with Ukraine that was an effort to extort an investigation into Joe Biden’s son in return for military aid.
Transcripts of the president’s calls will also be distributed to far fewer people, according to White House officials, CNN reported Friday. “Nobody is allowed on the calls,” one White House official said, “The barn door officially closed after the horse escaped.”
Only the closest of his aides will be able to listen in on them. This will include national security adviser Robert O’Brien, his deputy Matt Pottinger, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and his deputy Rob Blair.
Trump's senior aides have further restricted the number of admin officials allowed to listen to Trump's phone calls with foreign leaders since his July 25 call with Ukraine's president, according to multiple White House sources. https://t.co/i33PYpFp79
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 14, 2019
Trump is charged with abusing his presidential office to pressurize Ukraine into investigating Biden while holding back US security aid in the process. Several witnesses, including White House national security officials, said that his chat with Ukraine’s president was contrary to American national security goals and amounted to a quid pro quo—bribery, extortion, and abuse of power.
The problem here, as Daily Kos notes, is that too many people knew about Trump’s orders to the State Department and Rudy Giuliani’s plans. Too many people had listened.
Trump's senior aides have further restricted the # of officials allowed to listen to Trump's phone calls w foreign leaders, after his 7/25 call with the Ukraine President.
If Trump thinks extorting a foreign Govt is “Perfect POTUS behavior,” then why Hide?https://t.co/8SKIuvB8rM— Rula Jebreal (@rulajebreal) December 14, 2019
With this new directive, the White House’s solution is to stop anyone from listening to these calls in the first place. But facts remain. According to Daily Kos:
Because of his concerns about protecting himself from scrutiny, Trump is restricting the ability of others to gain access to the calls—which is itself a threat to the nation.