There is a very good reason why conversations between the White House and foreign leaders are usually not placed under high levels of classification. Those conversations have implications on trade, that provide important guidance to the Commerce Department. They may reflect discussions on military issues that need to be reviewed by the Defense Department. They absolutely have foreign policy concerns that need to be considered at the State Department. Any such conversation may have information that requires classification, but those instances are really quite rare. In typical practice, these conversations are available across the government at the cabinet level, and often much more extensively.
As Donald Trump himself has noted, these conversations are—or shouldn’t be—anything approaching a private conversation between two leaders except in very ratified and exceptional conditions. There are often dozens of people listening into the conversation, on both ends of the line. Those officials know what’s been said; are witnesses to any promises made.
And that’s what makes Trump’s treatment of his conversations with foreign leaders so extraordinary. Because that treatment doesn’t just speak to Trump being aware that he’s doing something deeply wrong, but shows more clearly than any other example the extent to which Trump has transformed the White House into the site of a criminal conspiracy.
Until 2017, the majority of calls between the White House and foreign officials were announced in advance. Trump ended that practice. Until 2018, a “read out” of the call, often containing a rough transcript similar to the one released this week, was routinely made available. Trump ended that practice.
And it’s now clear that Trump also ended the practice of circulating his statements through the use of the normal White House servers and classification. His talks with Zelensky, and with Saudi Arabian dictator Mohammed bin Salman, and with Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin were all classified in ways meant to ensure that those not in the room at the time of the call never had access to their contents.
The system had been arranged over a matter of decades specifically to demonstrate that American leaders speaking to foreign leaders were working for United States and not personal gain. Trump systematically removed those guardrails. And his White House team joined him in taking America dark.
Donald Trump is obsessed with secrets. Specifically, Trump is obsessed with keeping secrets. He views leakers as criminals, even when the information they spill has no real importance. He sees spies as traitors, even if those spies are working for the American government. In his business dealings, he has developed a way of speaking that allows his intent to be clear to his underlings, without putting him on record should one of those spies, or leakers, or some future court action spill his statements to the public.
It’s patently obvious that Trump constantly excoriates those who let slip secrets, because he constantly worries about having his secrets exposed. That alone doesn’t mean he’s necessarily a criminal. Many people have deep concerns about their privacy. But when Trump’s obsession extends to demanding that the translator of one of his meetings with Vladimir Putin hand over her notes, to declaring that he doesn’t want sources placed within hostile governments, and taking information that should be one step away from public knowledge and subjecting it to the tightest levels of security … it’s a very, very good sign that Trump knows he is regularly engaged in statements and practices that he doesn’t want known beyond his circle of insiders.
It’s been clear from the beginning of the Russia investigation, that Trump’s greatest anger is reserved not for those who were attacking the nation, but for those who either dared to investigate, like Robert Mueller, or for those who decided to at last spill the beans, like Michael Cohen. Trump’s estimation of someone’s worth is directly related to how willing they are to keep their mouth shut and protect secrets. His secrets.
That’s still true. The subjects of Trump’s daily scorn are still the same: whistleblowers and investigators. Those who let the world know he has something to hide, and those who look into it.
Trump’s actions, both as as a private citizen and in the White House, speak to not only he constantly moves beyond the bounds of propriety, common practice, and the law. And they speak loudly to how interested he is in keeping the way he really operates a secret. Trump is simply a crook.
And everyone who sat in those calls in the White House—calls to Zelensky, calls to bin Salman, calls to Putin—was well aware that Trump is a crook. Perfectly cognizant that he was engaged in shakedowns, under the table deals, and personal enrichment schemes. Under the technical definition of the Constitution, that doesn’t make them traitors. But it does make them members of a criminal conspiracy to defraud the Untied States.