Congressman Eugene Vindman has recently urged the release of a potentially significant phone call between former President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Vindman, who was part of Trump’s National Security Council during his first term, claims the call took place following the 2018 assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He made this request public from the House floor, noting his direct involvement in reviewing many of Trump’s conversations with foreign leaders.

According to Vindman, the call with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was as concerning as Trump’s infamous conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which led to Trump’s first impeachment. Vindman emphasized the importance of disclosing the call’s details, especially in light of Trump’s recent meeting with the Saudi leader at the White House. “If history is any guide, the receipts will be shocking,” Vindman asserted, underscoring the gravity of the situation.

Vindman questioned whether the Zelensky call was truly the only problematic interaction Trump had with a foreign leader. The White House has not commented on Vindman’s statements, despite inquiries from the Daily Mail. Meanwhile, Trump has defended the Saudi Crown Prince, particularly during a recent Oval Office meeting. This defense persists despite a 2021 U.S. intelligence report implicating the Crown Prince in a mission to “capture or kill” Khashoggi.

He said the line of questioning was embarrassing and said the murdered Saudi dissident and Washington Post journalist was ‘extremely controversial.’ The president insisted that MBS ‘knew nothing about’ his death. Khashoggi entered Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2, 2018 to obtain marriage documents – he never left. Investigators concluded that he was strangled and dismembered with a bonesaw inside the consulate, and that his body was removed in pieces in suitcases.

The CIA concluded in November 2018 that bin Salman ordered Khashoggi’s assassination. Trump is now disputing those findings. He dismissed the brutal murder of Khashoggi, who relocated to the U.S. in June 2017, and said on Tuesday alongside MBS that ‘things happen.’ ‘Given the president’s distributing and counter-factual defense of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman today, I feel compelled to speak-up on behalf of Mr. Khashoggi and his family and the American people,’ Congressman Vindman said.

‘After the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, I reviewed a call between the President and the Saudi Crown Prince,’ he added. ‘The American people and the Khashoggi family deserve to know what was said on that call.’ The lawmaker received a report from his identical twin brother, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, on Trump’s phone call with Zelensky, which he flagged to senior White House lawyers.

The Colonel testified before Congress in 2019 about the Trump-Ukraine scandal. The testimony ultimately helped provide evidence that resulted in a charge of abuse of power against Trump in the first impeachment trial.