Democrats demand details of Trump-Putin talks from White House

Democrats on Monday demanded the White House details of talks between President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to know whether any communication between the two had led to the "reconsideration, modification, or implementation" of any aspect of American foreign policy.

Fox News reported that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Eliot Engel, and Oversight Committee chairman Elijah Cummings in a letter said that they wanted details on whether the US President or anyone acting on his behalf had "failed to create records of, or in any way destroyed, suppressed, mishandled, or otherwise withheld any federal or presidential records" contrary to federal laws.

The Democrats are reportedly seeking access to all State Department employees and contractors with knowledge of Trump's communications with the Russian leader, including "linguists, translators, or interpreters who participated in [sic] attended, or in any way listened in on President Trump's in-person meetings with President Putin, as well as President Trump's phone calls with President Putin."

The decision by the Democrats came amid reports that the US President had instructed his interpreter not to reveal the details regarding his meeting with Putin in Hamburg, Germany in 2017.

In response to the move, Trump took to Twitter saying: "There is no Collusion. All of these investigations are in search of a crime. Democrats have no evidence to impeach President Trump. Ridiculous!"

Further, according to reports, there have been no detailed records of Trump's private meetings with Putin over the past two years.

Washington Post reported that California Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell had accused Trump of having "effectively destroying" the details of the two-hour one-on-one meeting between the two leaders in Helsinki, Finland last summer, which saw Trump and Putin meeting in private with only their translators present.

Earlier in January, Trump during an interview with Fox News told that he would be willing to release a transcript of his talks with Putin in Helsinki if he could, adding, "I don't care."

"I'm not keeping anything under wraps. I couldn't care less. I had a conversation like every president does. You sit with the president of various countries. I do it with all countries," Trump said.