thousands of calls from around the world, those requests would come through campaign staff, advisers, and other third-parties. according to this advice memo for the transition, trump must not accept these requests. requests must be methodically returned in a system of calls that will not create negative press stories. the president elect must have a classified intelligence briefing before conversations with foreign leaders and conduct the meetings only when a note taker and national security aide are present. the aide suggested that trump make waves of calls over a number of days, starting with the uk and ending with pakistan. a senior official recalled, quote, obviously all that just got tossed aside because trump was excited that important people were calling him. trump spoke to more than two dozen heads of state before his campaign ever contacted the state department. that free-wheeling access extended to in-person meetings. and the in-person meetings were not just held by the presi
this is a big deal story. to understand how this got to be so bad, you have to understand a little bit about the distance how a normal american government handles this kind of risk and what the trump administration has been doing, there is quite a distance. shortly before the election, staffers prepared a memo for chris christie was the head of the transition team that concerned the sensitive matter of conversations with foreign powers. the memo said in part, because the current president barack obama is still in office, calls made during the transition period should be high-level n - non-substantive and trump would be indicated with requests for thousands of calls from around the world, those requests would come through campaign staff, advisors and other third parties. according to this advice memo for the transition, trump must not accept these requests. requests must be methodically returned in a system of calls that will not create negative