Donald Trump’s claim Tuesday that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “knew nothing about” the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi may be undercut by a phone call he had with the monarch.

Democratic Representative Eugene Vindman said in a speech on the House floor Tuesday night that he reviewed the phone call at the time when he was a staffer on the National Security Council during Trump’s first term, calling it as problematic as the one between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Trump that led to the president’s impeachment in 2019.

“After the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, I reviewed a call between the president and the Saudi crown prince. The American people and the Khashoggi family deserve to know what was said on that call. If history is any guide, the receipts will be shocking,” the Virginia congressman said, calling for the president to release the full transcript of the call.

You know about Trump and Zelesnky’s call, but have you heard about the call between Trump and the Saudi Crown Prince?

Watch my statement below. @POTUS, release the transcript. pic.twitter.com/UHltH8srdO

The phone call Vindman is referring to is suspected to be from June 2019, when the White House reported that a call took place.

On Tuesday, when a reporter asked bin Salman and Trump about the U.S. intelligence conclusion that the crown prince personally ordered Khashoggi’s killing, Trump rushed to bin Salman’s defense.

“You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking something like that,” Trump snapped. He added, “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Based on Trump’s close ties with MBS, as the crown prince is commonly known, the phone call may be damaging to the president, especially considering that Trump claims to have protected MBS from congressional action over Khashoggi’s murder during his first term.

“I saved his ass,” Trump said to reporter Bob Woodward for his 2020 book Rage. “I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop.”

The White House is close to implementing a new rule that would effectively eradicate congressionally approved whistleblower protections.

Congress has passed several laws since the 1970s extending protections to federal workers who call out governmental wrongdoing. But the Trump administration is planning on chipping away at that by updating its policy on accountability, which would “exclude senior employees from legal protections that prohibit U.S. government agencies from retaliating against whistleblowers,” reported Reuters Tuesday.

Federal employment attorneys noted that the new policy would make targets out of the people most likely to find themselves in positions to uncover serious corruption.

“Translation: Trump can fire federal employees who point out that he’s broken the law. That’s pretty damn dark,” wrote Miles Taylor, an ex–Homeland Security official who drew national attention in 2018 when he anonymously penned an op-ed for The New York Times claiming to be part of the internal “resistance” against Trump’s first-term agenda.

It would follow through on Donald Trump’s April proposal to create a new federal employee category to “enhance accountability.”

“This rule empowers federal agencies to swiftly remove employees in policy-influencing roles for poor performance, misconduct, corruption, or subversion of Presidential directives, without lengthy procedural hurdles,” reads a White House fact sheet from the time on the proposed changes.

The Office of Personnel Management estimated at the time that the switch-up could affect as many as 50,000 positions across government agencies.

The Trump administration told Reuters Tuesday that the new rule would not strip employees of their current protections but would “put individual federal agencies in charge of enforcing those safeguards.”

“This administration is making good on its determination to silence dissent in all forms, creating a culture of fear, silence and intimidation,” Andrew Bakaj, chief legal counsel of the nonpartisan group Whistleblower Aid, told Reuters in a statement.

President Trump joked (we think) about firing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent while Bessent was sitting right in front of him.

“Interest rates are down despite the Fed. I mean Scott, you gotta work on this guy. He’s got some real mental problems. He has something wrong with him,” Trump said while addressing the Kennedy Center on Wednesday, referring to current Fed Chair Jerome Powell. “I’ll be honest, I’d love to fire his ass. He should be fired. Guy’s grossly incompetent. And he should be sued for spending $4 billion to build a little building. I’m building a ballroom that’s gonna cost a tiny fraction of that.

“You gotta work on him, Scott,” Trump continued. “The only thing Scott’s blowing it on is the Fed. Because … the rates are too high, Scott. And if you don’t get it fixed fast, I’m gonna fire your ass, OK?” The crowd roared with laughter. “I wanna get him out, Scott!”

Trump on Jerome Powell: "I'd love to fire his ass. He should be fired. The only thing Scott [Bessent] is blowing it on is the Fed. The rates are too high, Scott. And if you don't get it fixed fast, I'm going to fire your ass." pic.twitter.com/s653VB3MI1

This is a pretty stunning undermining of his own staff, even for Trump. And if the economy is doing so well, why is he so........

© New Republic