(CNN)In hundreds of highly classified phone calls with foreign heads of state, President Donald Trump was so consistently unprepared for discussion of serious issues, so often outplayed in his conversations with powerful leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Erdogan, and so abusive to leaders of America's principal allies, that the calls helped convince some senior US officials -- including his former secretaries of state and defense, two national security advisers and his longest-serving chief of staff -- that the President himself posed a danger to the national security of the United States, according to White House and intelligence officials intimately familiar with the contents of the conversations.
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WNU Editor: It is well known that President Trump is someone that is almost always on the phone. Apparently the only time that he is not on a phone is when he is playing golf. But even though he is always on the phone, the details of his conversations are rarely made public. From the few phone calls of President Trump that have been leaked and/or released .... his conversation with Ukraine President Zelenskiy that led to him being impeached by the Congress, Philippine President Duterte, former Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, and former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull .... I have found the phone calls to be straight forward and respectful. As for his conversations with Putin. I understand that they do talk regularly on a wide range of issues. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact. That is what world leaders do all the time. So why this CNN story right now? It is obvious that some former and current officials feel left out. But calling this a security risk .... that is a stretch. Trump is the President. He has the mandate to discuss national security issues with world leaders if he chooses to. I still remember President Trump's administration warning the Kremlin last year that US intelligence had learned of a terror plot in Saint Petersburg .... Putin thanks Trump for foiling New Year attacks (BBC). Many in Washington were not happy that certain US intelligence methods may have been compromised with this warning and subsequent phone calls between the two leaders. I say too bad. That is not a decision for them to make. Nor should it be.