The White House has limited an access to a memo, summarizing a 2017 meeting of US President Donald Trump, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, in which Trump claimed he was unconcerned about Russia's alleged meddling in US presidential vote as Washington did the same in other states, media reported, citing sources
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th September, 2019) The White House has limited an access to a memo, summarizing a 2017 meeting of US President Donald Trump, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, in which Trump claimed he was unconcerned about Russia's alleged meddling in US presidential vote as Washington did the same in other states, media reported, citing sources.
During the meeting, which took place in May 2017 in the Oval Office, Trump exposed highly classified intelligence about Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia) to the Russian officials that had been provided to the United States by Israel.
The White House was highly concerned by Trump's remarks, as it looked like he officially forgave Moscow for interfering in the 2016 vote and approved such a policy, the Washington Post newspaper reported, citing three former US officials familiar with the issue.
The access to remarks was limited to a small number of people to prevent Trump's comments from being disclosed publicly amid the impeachment inquiry recently launched by Democrats, the media said.
In the meantime, House Democrats have launched an impeachment inquiry based on a whistleblower's complaint that alleges presidential misconduct in the July 25 telephone conversation between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr 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.
Earlier in the day, CNN broadcaster reported that the White House aides had taken action to restrict access of the public to transcripts of Trump's conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.
