Vindman’s call to release Trump–MBS transcript reopens old questions in US–Saudi relationship
Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Va., is demanding that President Donald Trump release a 2019 call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying the American people "deserve to know what was...
By Fox News · Fox News
Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Va., is demanding that President Donald Trump release a 2019 call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying the American people "deserve to know what was said" in the aftermath of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. Vindman, a retired Army colonel who once served on Trump’s National Security Council, said the call was one of two that deeply concerned him — the other being the 2019 conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that triggered Trump’s first impeachment. Standing beside Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, the slain journalist’s widow, Vindman said Trump "sidelined his own intelligence community to shield a foreign leader" and that transparency is owed to both the Khashoggi family and the country. "The Khashoggi family and the American people deserve to know what was said on that call," Vindman said Friday. "Our intelligence agencies concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of Mr. Khashoggi’s husband. When the president sidelined his own intelligence community to shield a foreign leader, America’s credibility was at stake." TRUMP SECURES RELEASE OF AMERICAN TRAPPED IN SAUDI ARABIA FOR YEARS OVER ONLINE POSTS Vindman’s name already is polarizing in Trump-era politics. He and his twin brother, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, became central figures in the first impeachment attempt against Trump, when their internal reporting of Trump’s Ukraine call led to accusations from conservatives that they had undermined an elected president. To Trump’s allies, Eugene Vindman’s demand to release the 2019 Saudi call feels like a replay of that fight — another attempt by a former National Security Council insider to damage the president under the banner of transparency. Still, his comments land at a revealing moment. Washington’s embrace of bin Salman underscores a familiar trade-off in U.S. foreign policy: strategic security and economic interests over accountability and human rights. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: "Th…