The White House faces increasing scrutiny to release a classified phone call between President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. A former national security official claims the call challenges Trump’s defense of bin Salman regarding journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.
Virginia Congressman Eugene Vindman, who served on Trump’s National Security Council during his first term, reviewed the 2019 conversation between Trump and the crown prince following Khashoggi’s killing. Vindman labels the call as one of the two most concerning he evaluated at the White House, likening it to the Trump-Zelensky call that prompted Trump’s first impeachment.
“During my tenure on Trump’s White House National Security Council staff, I reviewed many of Trump’s calls with foreign leaders. Of all the calls I reviewed, two stood out as the most problematic,” Vindman told the House. The first was the call with Ukraine’s president that resulted in impeachment. The second was the conversation with bin Salman.
The call for transparency emerged a day after Trump welcomed bin Salman to the White House on November 18, 2025, with full military honors, including marching bands, flag-carrying horsemen, and a military flyover. It marked the crown prince’s first U.S. visit in seven years. During the visit, Trump dismissed queries about Khashoggi’s murder, suggesting the journalist was controversial and not well-liked. When questioned about the killing, Trump remarked that things happen and claimed bin Salman was unaware of the incident.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist residing in Virginia, was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, while obtaining documents for his wedding. In February 2021, U.S. intelligence released a report stating that bin Salman approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi.
Vindman stated that after the murder of the journalist, he reviewed a call between the president and the Saudi crown prince. He said the American people and the Khashoggi family deserve to know what was said on that call, adding that if history is any guide, the receipts will be shocking. He said he cannot share specific details because the call remains classified.
Vindman led 37 House members in writing to Trump, asking that the transcript be made public. Their letter emphasized that U.S. intelligence determined bin Salman personally ordered the murder and argued that strategic interests do not require whitewashing human rights abuses.
Trump’s close relationship with the Saudi crown prince has raised questions for years. According to journalist Bob Woodward’s book “Rage,” Trump told him during a January 2020 phone call that he had saved bin Salman, had gotten Congress to leave him alone, and had gotten them to stop. When Woodward asked if Trump believed bin Salman’s denial about ordering the murder, Trump responded by discussing Saudi Arabia’s financial spending, saying bin Salman says very firmly that he didn’t do it and noting that Saudi Arabia spent $400 billion over a fairly short period of time.
During bin Salman’s November 2025 White House visit, Trump and the crown prince signed major agreements. Saudi Arabia boosted its investment commitments in the United States to nearly $1 trillion, up from $600 billion promised during Trump’s earlier visit to Saudi Arabia in May 2025. Trump also approved the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, making it the first Middle Eastern country besides Israel to receive the advanced aircraft. He granted Saudi Arabia major non-NATO ally status as well.
The Trump family’s business ties with Saudi Arabia have drawn attention. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, received $2 billion from a Saudi sovereign wealth fund overseen by bin Salman for his private equity fund after leaving the White House. The Trump Organization is also developing several Trump-branded projects in Saudi Arabia.
Bin Salman has denied ordering the murder but accepted responsibility as Saudi Arabia’s leader. At the White House, he described the killing as painful and stated that Saudi Arabia conducted proper investigations and improved its systems to ensure nothing like that happens again.
Vindman appeared with Khashoggi’s widow, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, and other lawmakers to push for releasing the transcript. He described the call as a quid pro quo agreement in which Trump offered something in exchange for something. Vindman admitted that releasing the transcript would require support from both Democrats and Republicans, but said his Republican colleagues lack a trait called “bravery.”
The White House rejected Vindman’s request through spokesperson Steven Cheung, who called Vindman a bitter back-bencher and a serial liar who was part of the hoax surrounding “the perfect Ukraine call.” The phone call happened around June 2019, roughly eight months after Khashoggi’s murder. A White House summary from that time mentioned the leaders discussed Iran tensions and Saudi Arabia’s role in Middle East stability, but said nothing about Khashoggi.
The November 2025 White House visit included an evening dinner with guests, including Elon Musk, soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and other business leaders.
