Fmr US Ambassador to Russia Warns Releasing Trump-Ukraine Transcript Sets ‘Bad Precedent’

Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia under Barack Obama, expressed concern on MSNBC tonight about the release of the transcript of President Donald Trump‘s call with the president of Ukraine.

Trump announced today the transcript will be released, saying in a subsequent tweet that they got “permission” from the Ukraine government to release it.

McFaul told Ari Melber he’s “100 percent” against releasing transcripts of calls between two world leaders:

“The president of the United States, Democrat, Republican, needs to conduct diplomacy without having to release transcripts of that. And if we do this, it means that every prime minister or president that talks to either President Trump or the future will now self-censor themselves. I’m against it on that ground, but I’m especially against it because it’s a diversionary tactic. We need to know what is in the complaint from the whistleblower. And I think it is naive. I think it’s way too premature to assume that everything that that whistleblower did and was worried about was just this one phone call.”

McFaul emphasized it sets a “bad precedent” to release the transcript, while noting “it is the law to release the whistleblower complaint to the U.S. Congress.”

You can watch above, via MSNBC.

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