MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th September, 2019) The White House aides have taken action to restrict access of the public to transcripts of President Donald Trump's conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the CNN reported, citing people familiar with the matter, amid a scandal around Trump's call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
According to the reports, citing one of the sources, a transcript of Trump's call with the Saudi crown prince had never been circulated, even among those officials who would usually have had access to such transcripts. The source called it unusual since the conversation was high-profile despite containing no especially sensitive security information.
The call reportedly took place amid Washington's criticism of the murder of opposition Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Saudi authorities have charged 11 people with Khashoggi's murder but have repeatedly denied any involvement of the royal family in it despite media outlets' claims to the contrary.
The reports added, citing a former Trump administration official, that the transcript of at least one of the president's conversations with Putin had been restricted.
The reports come amid a scandal in the United States that was caused by the release of a whistleblower complaint against US President Donald Trump about his communications with Zelenskyy. The complaint suggested that the White House had attempted to restrict access to the transcript of one of the telephone conversations between the presidents and described the call as a bid by Trump to solicit a foreign power to interfere in the 2020 US presidential election by pressing Zelenskyy to probe former Vice President Joe Biden, who is a Democratic candidate in the race, and his son's business dealings in Ukraine.
The White House subsequently released the transcript. Despite that, the scandal prompted the Democrats to engage in forming a case to impeach Trump.
The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, commented on the situation by expressing hope that US-Russia relations would never face a release of Putin-Trump conversations.
