Vindman demands release of Trump-Mohammed bin Salman call after Khashoggi murder: ‘You will be shocked’

Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.), who served on the National Security Council (NSC) in the first Trump administration, called on President Trump to release the transcript of a “shocking” phone call that took place with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the aftermath of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination.

Vindman — who played a key role in exposing details of Trump’s infamous call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2019 — said a second phone call exists with the Saudi crown prince that rivals the first as “the most problematic.”

In an interview on “CNN News Central” Wednesday, Vindman said Trump’s phone call with the de facto Saudi leader “was about the murder of an American resident — a Virginia resident — and a Washington Post reporter.”

“During my tenure on Trump’s White House National Security Council staff, I reviewed many of Trump’s calls with foreign leaders. Of all the calls I reviewed, two stood out as the most problematic: The first, we all know, it was between President Trump and President Zelensky, which resulted in President Trump’s first impeachment,” Vindman said in a floor speech Tuesday.

“The second was between President Trump and Mohammed bin Salman,” he continued. “After the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, I reviewed a call between the president and the Saudi crown prince.”

Vindman, who did not provide any further details about the call, urged the president to release its transcript, saying in a subsequent post on social media, “You will be shocked by what you hear.”

“The American people and the Khashoggi family deserve to know what was said on that call. If history is any guide, the receipts will be shocking,” Vindman said on the House floor.

“I call on the president to release that transcript,” he continued. “And honestly, does anyone believe that the Zelensky call was the only problematic conversation Donald Trump had with a foreign leader?”

Vindman’s public remarks came after the president hosted the Saudi crown prince for a meeting at the White House on Tuesday and offered a fierce defense of his guest when questioned by the American press corps.

Trump, when asked about Khashoggi’s death, said “a lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about … Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.” He added that the crown prince “knew nothing about it.”

U.S. intelligence has concluded that the crown prince likely approved the operation to capture or kill Khashoggi, who was assassinated at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Khashoggi, a Saudi-born journalist, fled his country in 2017 and was critical of the crown prince and the Saudi government in his subsequent columns in the Post.

Vindman, in his floor speech Tuesday, said he decided to call on the Trump administration to release the transcript after hearing the president’s comments that day.

“Given the president’s disturbing and counterfactual defense of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman today, I feel compelled to speak up on behalf of Mr. Khashoggi and his family and the American people,” Vindman said.

In a 2020 interview with acclaimed journalist Bob Woodward, Trump said he had “gotten involved very much,” when asked about the crown prince’s role in the Khashoggi killing.

“I saved his ass,” Trump said in 2020, referring to the crown prince. “That’s what happened.”

“They were coming down on him very strongly. But I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop. … You know, I’m very friendly with those guys,” Trump said, according to Woodward, referring to Congress.

Alexander Vindman, the congressman’s twin brother who also served on the NSC, was on Trump’s infamous phone call in 2019 when Trump is accused of threatening to withhold aid to Ukraine unless the foreign country provided damaging information on his political opponent.

The brothers came forward to report what they perceived to be improper conduct, leading to the president’s first impeachment. Trump ultimately was acquitted in the Senate.

The White House dismissed Eugene Vindman’s call for the transcript.

“Vindman is a bitter back-bencher who nobody takes seriously. He is a serial liar and was part of the hoax relating to the perfect Ukraine call, in which the Ukrainian president said so himself,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement to The Hill.