Report: White House lawyer moved Trump's Ukraine transcript to classified server after staff flagged concerns

After learning that White House officials had concerns over President Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, National Security Council legal counsel John Eisenberg proposed moving a reconstructed transcript of the call to a server used for highly classified material, restricting access to it and going against White House protocol, The Washington Post reports.

This revelation was made during Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman's testimony to House investigators on Tuesday, people familiar with the matter told the Post. Vindman was among a handful of officials who listened in on the call, during which Trump asked Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and he was so bothered by the request that he went to Eisenberg's office to tell him that what Trump said was wrong.

Vindman, the National Security Council's top Ukraine adviser, also testified that he went to Eisenberg following a July 10 meeting with Ukrainian officials visiting the White House, the Post reports. According to several accounts, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland told the Ukrainians that their country needed to investigate the Bidens and Burisma, the energy company where Hunter Biden once was on the board of directors. This was "inappropriate," Vindman said. The NSC's former top Russia official, Fiona Hill, also reportedly testified that she had relayed concerns to Eisenberg about that meeting. House Democrats have asked Eisenberg to testify on Monday. Read more at The Washington Post.

Subscribe to 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