President Trump Hiding Phone Calls to Vladimir Putin and Saudi Royals

[lpetrich]

White House Classified Computer System Is Used to Hold Transcripts of Sensitive Calls - The New York Times - "Current and former officials said the White House used a highly classified computer system accessible to only a select few officials to store transcripts of calls from President Vladimir Putin and the Saudi royal family."

The White House concealed some reconstructed transcripts of delicate calls between President Trump and foreign officials, including President Vladimir V. Putin and the Saudi royal family, in a highly classified computer system after embarrassing leaks of his conversations, according to current and former officials.

...
A whistle-blower complaint accuses officials of trying to “lock down” access to information about the conversation with Mr. Zelensky by improperly storing the reconstructed transcript of the July 25 call in the highly classified system after the call took place.

In the case of the calls with the Saudi royal family, the restrictions were set beforehand, and the number of people allowed to listen was sharply restricted. The Saudi calls placed in the restricted system were with King Salman, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Prince Khalid bin Salman, who at the time was the Saudi ambassador to the United States.

That was done after leaks of calls to leaders of Australia and Mexico.

But the official did not actually say how the document was handled, nor address the whistle-blower’s specific charge that the reconstructed transcript, in what would be a highly unusual action, was moved from a computer system widely accessible to National Security Council officials to one reserved for those with code-word clearance to handle the country’s most closely guarded secrets like covert operations and foreign surveillance.

...
In his complaint, the whistle-blower said that unnamed White House officials told him that they had been “‘directed’ by White House lawyers” to remove the record of the call from the National Security Council’s main computer system and load it into one managed by the agency’s intelligence directorate that is not connected to the main system and that requires special permissions and enhanced security clearances to access.

Thus making it hard to leak. Even at the price of restricting access to it from officials who arguably satisfy need-to-know. It's almost as if tRump believes in personal rule rather than working as part of a broader community.

The New York Times on Twitter: "Breaking News: The White House restricted access to records of sensitive calls President Trump had with Vladimir Putin and members of the Saudi royal family https://t.co/6c8hhdNF4i" / Twitter
then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "This is beyond partisanship.
It is a heartbreaking betrayal of our nation.
The President and everyone involved in this should resign immediately. https://t.co/8JT3PwoxBc" / Twitter

Susan Hennessey on Twitter: "Just to clarify what is going on here, the White House appears to be engaged in massive, systemic abuse of the classification system and underlying presidential authorities in order to cover up egregious wrongdoing including impeachable conduct.
This is a historic scandal." / Twitter

 

[Fentoine Lum]

Right with all the other stuff he has to hide .....

Like taxes and transcripts.

 

[Worldtraveller]

Most transparent administration ever!

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I'm kinda jealous knowing I won't be able to experience any of those "beautiful" exchanges between Dotard and Kim.

XOXO

On a serious note, right after the Zelensky call Trumpo talked with Putin. The transcript of those calls are presently locked away in the same place the Zelensky call was relegated to. I'd love to get a read on what was said to Putin.