Trump was evidently fully aware he was talking on an open line during sensitive call that Russia likely listened in on

Wednesday's hearing for Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, largely revolved around a key July 26 phone call with President Trump. The call is important for House impeachment investigators because it seemingly links Trump directly to attempts to pressure Ukraine into opening investigations into the Bidens. One member of the Ukrainian diplomat's staff even claims to have overheard the president pushing Sondland for news about "the investigations" on the call, made in a Kyiv restaurant, and that Sondland confirmed that the Ukrainians were ready to "move forward."

But what came out last week was that the phone call between Sondland and Trump — which was already loud enough to be overheard in public — was additionally placed on an unsecure mobile phone. Speaking Wednesday, Sondland admitted another piece of shocking news: That Trump himself knew the conversation about sensitive national security issues was being made on the open line, and proceeded anyway.

Sondland, who was considered a national security risk by former National Security Council aide Fiona Hill due to his penchant for placing calls on vulnerable lines, defended his practice before Congress. "We had sensitive conversations on unsecured lines all the time," he told investigators, pointing out that "the president decides what's classified and not — and he knew I was on an unsecured line." Trump notably ran his 2016 presidential campaign on the assurance of securing national communications, frequently blasting his opponent, Hillary Clinton, over her use of an unsecure email server.

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The admission that the president himself was aware of the security risk, and fine with it, is also surprising in light of the fact that former officials told CNN last week that there was "a high probability that intelligence agencies from numerous foreign countries, including Russia, were listening in on the conversation."

"Why a president is talking to an ambassador on a non-encrypted telephone is crazy for today's age, and worse in public," said former FBI official Todd Carroll.