7 hours of missing call logs, plus Trump hid his calls with Putin.
Few Trump-era mysteries are as intriguing as what the 45th president said to Vladimir Putin in at least a dozen rambling,
off-the-cuff calls and meetings over four years. Understanding what was said between the two could help illuminate
whether Trump ever revealed sensitive information or struck any deals with the Kremlin leader that could take the
new administration by surprise.
“It is a national security priority to find out what Trump said to Putin” over his four years in office, said one former
national security official who is close to the new president. “Some things, like what happened in some face-to-face
meetings where no American translator or note-taker was present, may never be fully known. But I would be very
surprised if the new national security team were not trying to access” the call records.
Trump closely guarded his private conversations with foreign leaders while in office, going as far as to have some
hidden in the NSC’s top-secret codeword system to limit staffers’ and even cabinet members’ access and prevent
leaks. Readouts of Trump's calls with Putin would often come from the Kremlin first, or through Trump’s Twitter feed.
But while the calls were not recorded, aides were typically still on the line and taking notes of what was said. The
resulting loose transcripts are known as “memcons,” or memorandums of conversation.
Trump went to particularly great lengths to keep his in-person conversations with the Russian leader private, from
confiscating his interpreter’s notes to forgoing American translators and notetakers altogether in their meetings.
That desire for secrecy has extended even past his time in office. One former Trump official argued last week that
records of Trump’s conversations with Putin, which often lasted an hour or more, should not be made available
to his successor.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/09/biden-can-access-trump-putin-calls-468100
= new reply since forum marked as read
Had to add that last one...important quotes need to be repeated...
I've always wondered if someone from the DOJ/FBI has talked to the interpreter
to see what they could recall, anything outrageous they would have remembered.
I'd wager Jan 6th committee has done that already
