US political analysts are suggesting the Prime Minister put his personal relationship with the US President above Australia's national interest in the phone call.
The Australian intelligence was later passed on to the US government after the FBI began investigating a Russian hack of Hillary Clinton's emails and helped trigger the Mueller probe into links between the Trump campaign and Russia. Mr Downer has told the ABC he knew nothing about the recent conversations of Mr Trump and Mr Morrison.
Mr Trump has long dismissed the Mueller probe as a “witch hunt” and claimed the final report cleared him of any wrongdoing.
