Congress should investigate the leaking of transcripts of calls between President Donald Trump and world leaders, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Thursday. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), called the leak “absolutely” troubling, arguing that it would cause potentially-serious complications to the White House’s ability to conduct foreign policy. “A president of the United States, a governor would tell us they've got to be able to have confidential conversations,” Warner told The Daily Beast in an interview. “And I think it was disgraceful that those [came out].” On Thursday morning, the Washington Post published full transcripts of Trump’s calls with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The transcripts revealed tense exchanges and candid admissions from Trump about topics like refugee admissions and the border wall. But it was the act of leaking itself that shook national security experts who worried the publishing of transcripts would dramatically curtail Trumps ability to have candid, strategic exchanges with fellow world leaders. While the leak may be “reflective of a chaotic White House,” Warner said, it still constituted a massive breach of norms and was serious enough to merit a congressional inquiry. “Whether that is Intel or Judicial [committees] looking into it, somebody ought to,” he said.
—Sam Stein
