The White House has stopped issuing public summaries of calls with foreign leaders

The White House is no longer publishing public reports summarizing phone calls President Trump has with other world leaders, two people with knowledge of the matter told CNN on Tuesday.

Known as "readouts," these are the only official accounts of phone calls, and were common under previous Republican and Democratic administrations. CNN reports it's unclear if this is just temporary or if the readouts are permanently over, but they are still being released internally. The last time the White House published a readout of one of Trump's calls was in mid-June, when he congratulated the Hungarian prime minister on his re-election.

In the last two weeks, Trump has had phone calls with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the White House only confirming those calls took place after foreign media reported on them, without revealing what they discussed. When reached by CNN, a White House spokesperson declined to comment.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up