President Donald Trump shocked and disgusted many by purportedly suggesting Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi deserved to be brutally murdered by Saudi agents, but Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA) claimed what he said to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a private phone call was even more "deeply disturbing and frankly shocking."
The Virginia Democrat called on the president to release the transcript of a 2019 phone call with the Saudi crown prince following the dissident journalist's grisly assassination, and Vindman tried to reveal as much as he could on "CNN News Central" about the call that he was privy to while serving on Trump's national security council during his first term.
"Look, as Imentioned last night on thefloor of the House of Representatives, there weretwo calls among many withforeign leaders thatparticularly disturbed me, and one we know was with President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy of Ukraine,the extortion call, and thatresulted in the president'sfirst impeachment," said Vindman, who testified against Trump during that inquiry. "This was thesecond one that really botheredme because this was about themurder of an American resident,a Virginia resident, and a Washington Post reporter, andthe president, the conversationhe had, obviously, I can't getinto the details but it wascounterfactual to what thepresident was claiming lastnight."
"What U.S. security andintelligence services have knownand stated publicly was theinvolvement of MBS, and it's timethat the president come cleanand frankly, in light of theenrichment that the Trump familyhas received in the ensuingyears, I think it's even moredeeply disturbing and frankly,shocking," Vindman added.
Vindman was asked whether the call with the crown prince was also impeachable, and he referred to a book written by Khashoggi's colleague Bob Woodward that discusses the call.
"There wasactually a book written by Mr.Woodward where the presidentsaid that he saved MBS's a--," Vindman said. "I'm justgoing to quote that, and I thinkthat the the actions and the thespecial treatment that the Saudicrown prince has received andthe ensuing self-enrichment by the Trumpfamily from Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabian officials, iscertainly a conflict ofinterest."
"The callitself, I think, would beshocking," he added. "Again, I can't getinto any details, but thepresident actually released thetranscript of the Ukraine call,and I think the president shouldalso release the transcript ofthe call with MBS that occurredafter the journalist wasbrutally butchered by Saudiagents in the Turkish embassy."
Vindman conceded that foreign policy matters sometimes required dealings with "potentially unsavory or adversarial folks from around the world," but he said presidents did not have to form personal alliances with them to ensure national security.
"Whether it's Kim Jong Un, you know, thepresident of North Korea or theleader of North Korea or Vladimir Putin or President Xiof China, we have to deal withthem, but that doesn't mean wehave to cozy up to them," Vindman said. "Thatdoesn't mean we have towhitewash history and eliminatewhat we know are facts orclaims, certainly made by theintelligence services of the United States that theprince was involved in themurder, the brutal murder of Khashoggi."
"We can deal with himand at the same time acknowledgethat those things happenedand the president actually seemsto be whitewashing it, whichthe American people deserve toknow the truth," Vindman added. "The Khashoggifamily deserves to know thetruth, and, you know, it shouldcome as no surprise that the Ukraine phone call was notthe only phone call that wasproblematic that the presidenthad with other foreign leaders."