What a presidential phone call with a foreign leader looks like in a normal White House

First, before every call Obama made to Russia’s then-President Dmitry Medvedev or then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, our national security staff prepared background materials and talking points. For Russia calls, I was the lead drafter of these materials, known as “call packages.” But all of these talking points and briefing memos were approved — or as, we used to say, “cleared” — by staff at the NSC.

Judging from the content of the Trump-Zelensky call, Trump was not reading talking points. No one on our team would have ever prepared a call package prompting Obama to ask for a personal favor that would help him win reelection. I also doubt that Trump’s NSC staff would have written or cleared such a talking point for their boss.

Talking points for an Obama call with a Ukrainian leader after 2014 also would have denounced Russian annexation of Crimea and intervention in eastern Ukraine and stressed U.S. support for Ukrainian sovereignty and democracy. My guess is that Trump’s NSC professional staff would have written similar talking points. Trump delivered none of these messages.

Second, before every call Obama had with foreign leaders, we conducted a “pre-brief” in the Oval Office. I considered these briefings to be one of the most important parts of my White House job. In these sessions, we discussed in detail the goals of the call — the U.S. national interests we were seeking to advance. Obama wanted concrete outcomes to be pursued in these conversations.