The new US President, Joe Biden, has retrieved records of the conversations between Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump over the 4 years of Trump’s presidency, according to some sources.
This is to help give a clearer picture and determine whether Trump revealed sensitive information or struck any deals with Moscow that could take Biden’s administration by surprise.
According to a report from Politico, what was said between the 2 world leaders is a great mystery, one that advisers to President Joe Biden is imperative to find out, now that he is in the White House.
READ: Banking giant, Deutsch Bank to cut ties with President Trump
A former Trump White House official in a chat with Politico said, “They (Biden national security team) don’t need our approval to see those (records). Biden owns all the call materials. There is only one president at a time.”
A former national security official who is close to the new president said, “It is a national security priority to find out what Trump said to Putin over his four years in office. Some things, like what happened in some face-to-face meetings where no American translator or note-taker was present, may never be fully known.
READ: Calls to impeach me are ridiculous – US President, Trump
A second former Trump White House official said, “But I would be very surprised if the new national security team were not trying to access the call records.” “There are certain things a president and his immediate staff should be able to hold privileged to do the work of government, without being subject to constant partisan gamesmanship.’’
What you should know
- It is on record that Donald Trump closely guarded his private conversations with foreign leaders while in office, going as far as to have some hidden in the National Security Council (NSC)’s top-secret codeword system to restrict his staff and even cabinet members from having access to prevent leaks.
- Although the conversations were not recorded, the aides were usually on the line recording what was being said. The transcripts, or the so-called memorandums of conversation, were preserved.
- It can also be recalled that the US intelligence agencies, accused the Russian Government of interfering in the 2016 US Presidential election with the aim of harming the campaign of the then-Democratic candidate, Hilary Clinton, boosting the candidacy of Donald Trump and increasing political and social discord in the United States.
- The US intelligence agencies said the operation, ‘code-named Project Lakhta’, was directly ordered by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin.
