{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://vindman.house.gov/2025/11/20/vindman-leads-37-colleagues-in-demanding-trump-release-the-full-transcript-of-trumps-2019-call-with-mohammed-bin-salman/", "Vindman Leads 37 Colleagues in Demanding Trump Release the Full Transcript of Trump\u2019s 2019 Call with Mohammed bin Salman", "2025-11-20", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "House", "VA", "Eugene Simon Vindman", "V000138", "vindman.house.gov", "vindman", "https://vindman.house.gov/category/press-releases/", "scraper", "\u201cAmericans deserve answers regarding your communications with the Crown Prince, as well as any promises, favor or commitments exchanged during the conversation.\u201d\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Congressman Eugene Vindman (Va.-07) today led a group of 37 U.S. House lawmakers in sending a letter to President Donald Trump calling for the immediate release of the transcript of a 2019 phone call between President Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.\n\nAfter the murder, Vindman \u2014 then a National Security Council deputy legal advisor \u2014 reviewed the transcript of the call. He has stated that the American people, and the Khashoggi family, deserve to know what was said.\n\nIn their letter, the lawmakers argue that the circumstances surrounding Khashoggi\u2019s murder, and the Trump administration\u2019s subsequent engagement with the Saudi government, warrant immediate public disclosure of the call\u2019s contents.\n\nIn the letter, Vindman and his colleagues stated \u201cThe U.S. Intelligence Community concluded that the Saudi Crown Prince personally ordered Khashoggi\u2019s murder. In a direct rebuke of our dedicated national security civil servants, your recent statements suggest that you place greater trust in the Crown Prince\u2019s claims than in the assessments of our intelligence agencies.\u201d\n\n\u201cMoreover, our strategic interests in the Middle East do not require the whitewashing of human rights abuses nor the abandonment of core American values. The American people deserve transparency in our foreign policy,\u201d the lawmakers continued. \u201cAmericans deserve answers regarding your communications with the Crown Prince, as well as any promises, favor or commitments exchanged during the conversation.\u201d\n\nA full copy of the letter text can be found below.\n\n\u2014\n\nDear Mr. President:\n\nWe write to demand the release of the full transcript of your 2019 phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which was reviewed by Congressman Eugene Vindman during his tenure on the White House National Security Council. The American people deserve to know what was said in that conversation, particularly anything that might pertain to the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S.-based Washington Post journalist and Virginia resident.\n\nWe recognize that U.S. national security sometimes requires engaging with governments and leaders whose values do not align with our own. However, such engagement does not require forming personal alliances with authoritarian figures. Whether dealing with Chairman Kim Jong Un, President Vladimir Putin, or President Xi Jinping, presidents must navigate complex relationships. However, doing so in a manner that publicly flatters, defends, or excuses their conduct undermines U.S. credibility and projects weakness on the world stage.\n\nThe U.S. Intelligence Community concluded that the Saudi Crown Prince personally ordered Khashoggi\u2019s murder. In a direct rebuke of our dedicated national security civil servants, your recent statements suggest that you place greater trust in the Crown Prince\u2019s claims than in the assessments of our intelligence agencies. Moreover, our strategic interests in the Middle East do not require the whitewashing of human rights abuses nor the abandonment of core American values.\n\nThe American people deserve transparency in our foreign policy. Specifically, Americans deserve answers regarding your communications with the Crown Prince, as well as any promises, favor or commitments exchanged during the conversation. For these reasons and for the sake of justice and closure for the Khashoggi family, we urge you to immediately release the transcript of the 2019 call.\n\n\u2014\n\nBACKGROUND\n\nJamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist and U.S. resident, was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 \u2014 an event that drew worldwide condemnation and raised serious questions about Saudi Arabia\u2019s leadership and the Trump administration\u2019s response.\n\nAt the time of the Trump\u2013bin Salman call in 2019, Vindman was serving as a lawyer on the White House National Security Council. His responsibilities included reviewing certain presidential calls with foreign leaders. Following Khashoggi\u2019s murder, he reviewed this call and believes its contents are of clear public interest.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://vindman.house.gov/2025/11/20/vindman-leads-37-colleagues-in-demanding-trump-release-the-full-transcript-of-trumps-2019-call-with-mohammed-bin-salman/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6434001736342907, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}