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Warner, Ranking Senate Intel Dem: Congress Ought to Investigate Leaked Trump Transcripts

Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.) on Thursday called for an investigation into who leaked transcripts of President Donald Trump's phone calls with foreign leaders.

Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told the Daily Beast that the leak is "disturbing." He said that the president must be able to speak in private with foreign leaders.

"A president of the United States, a governor would tell us they've got to be able to have confidential conversations," Warner said. "And I think it was disgraceful that those [came out]."

The transcripts included conversations with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. They were published in the Washington Post on Thursday.

The danger to American foreign policy was not lost on Warner, who said that the Intelligence or Judiciary Committee should look into the leak. He said the leak may be "reflective of a chaotic White House," but regardless still constitutes a major problem meriting congressional inquiry.

"Whether that is Intel or Judicial [committees] looking into it, somebody ought to," Warner said.

In his conversation with Peña Nieto, Trump tried to get his Mexican counterpart not to speak to the media about whether Mexico would pay for a wall between the countries' border. He had a tense discussion with Turnbull about refugee policy, and said he had an easier time talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Leaks have been a major problem for the Trump administration, with at least one national security leak per day since its inception.