President Donald Trump's senior aides have further restricted the number of administration officials allowed to listen to the President's phone calls with foreign leaders since his July 25 call with Ukraine's President was revealed and became the centerpiece of the impeachment inquiry, according to multiple White House sources.
Transcripts of Trump's calls with world leaders are also disseminated to a far smaller group of people inside the White House, those administration sources say, continuing an effort to limit the number of people with insight and information about the conversations.
It amounts to a concerted effort to prevent Trump's conversations -- which officials have said sometimes veer off into unguarded or undiplomatic territory -- from becoming known to even those inside the administration.
"Nobody is allowed on the calls," a White House official said, describing the new effort to limit those with access to the calls to only the President's senior-most aides, barring some senior and mid-level career staff from listening in. "The barn door officially closed after the horse escaped."
Earlier in the 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.
Now, when the President speaks on the phone with world leaders, he's joined on the call by just a handful of others appointed by Trump to the highest level of the administration, multiple White House officials say. The list is signed off on by national security adviser Robert O'Brien, who will often join the call himself along with a rotating roster of officials including his deputy Matt Pottinger, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and his deputy Rob Blair.
Vice President Mike Pence's national security adviser Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg is often the sole representative from Pence's office.
Gone from the calls are some of the career staffers and detailees whose roles included taking notes and providing edits to the eventual transcript of the conversations meant to clarify what was said.
While limiting access to the President's phone calls is designed to stop leaks and tamp down on dissent internally, the official said, it results in "a smaller circle of loyalists in all policymaking discussions" which could have a serious impact on how the administration executes its foreign policy, according to experts.
Another White House official jokingly called the change "The Vindman Rule," after Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council's director on Ukraine.
