White House restricts officials who can listen to Trump’s calls with foreign leaders

US President Donald Trump's senior aides have further restricted the number of administration officials allowed to listen to his phone calls with foreign leaders following the Ukraine scandal, according to US media reports.

The new restrictions were implemented after Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was revealed and became the centerpiece of the impeachment inquiry, CNN reported Friday, citing multiple White House sources.

Transcripts of Trump's calls with world leaders are also distributed to a far smaller group of people inside the White House, those sources told CNN.

Democrats in the lower US House of Representatives launched an impeachment inquiry against Trump in September after a whistleblower alleged the Republican president pressured Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who had served as a director for Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

The new measure is part of a concerted effort to prevent Trump's conversations from becoming known to even those inside the administration and stopping leaks to the outside, the sources said.

US officials have said Trump's conversations with foreign leaders sometimes veer off into unguarded or undiplomatic territory.

"Nobody is allowed on the calls," a White House official said. "The barn door officially closed after the horse escaped."

The White House official said Trump’s calls will be accessible to only the president's senior-most aides, barring some senior and mid-level career staff from listening in.

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Earlier in the Trump administration, and during past presidencies, a larger number of officials would be allowed to listen to phone calls with foreign leaders. That includes aides with specific expertise in the countries being phoned or officials focused on an issue set being discussed on the call.

The list of officials that can join Trump’ calls will be approved by National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, multiple White House officials said.

 O'Brien will often join the call himself along with a rotating roster of senior officials including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and his deputy Rob Blair.

National security experts say limiting access to the president's phone calls with world leaders could have a serious impact on how the administration executes its foreign policy.

"National security professionals seeking to advance US policy objectives may or may not reflect or even be aware of Trump's personal views, which are often divorced from a rational process and center on Trump's own obsessions and political interests at the expense of the national interest," Colin Kahl, a former national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, said. "Cutting subject matter experts and professionals out the loop will make this problem worse."

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