A White House attorney reportedly directed that the record of President Donald Trump's controversial phone call with Ukraine's president be transferred to a highly classified computer system after a national security official raised concerns about the conversation.
According to reporting published Wednesday by The Washington Post, White House lawyer John Eisenberg proposed restricting access to the July 25 call record shortly after Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman warned that Trump's requests to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were inappropriate.
The revelation raises new questions about why White House officials took extraordinary steps to restrict access to a presidential conversation now at the center of an impeachment investigation.
Vindman Raised Concerns Immediately
Vindman, the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert, listened to the call and became alarmed when Trump pressed Zelensky to pursue investigations involving former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
According to people familiar with Vindman's testimony, he reported his concerns to Eisenberg shortly after the conversation ended.
Eisenberg reportedly suggested moving the call record to a highly classified system ordinarily reserved for sensitive intelligence information. The attorney subsequently directed its transfer, according to the report.
Former national security officials described such handling of a routine presidential call record as highly unusual.
Questions About What the White House Was Protecting
The disclosure comes as investigators examine whether Trump improperly pressured Ukraine to investigate a political rival while his administration withheld nearly $400 million in congressionally approved military assistance.
Trump continues to insist that his conversation with Zelensky was appropriate and has repeatedly encouraged Americans to read the White House's publicly released account of the call.
However, Vindman has also reportedly testified that the released memorandum omitted important words and phrases from the conversation.
The White House declined to discuss Eisenberg's handling of the record, citing the confidentiality of internal legal deliberations.
House impeachment investigators have requested testimony from Eisenberg and another White House attorney.
The central question now facing investigators is why a conversation the president describes as entirely appropriate was placed in a system designed to tightly restrict access to some of the government's most sensitive information.