The White House restricted access to the transcripts of telephone calls Donald Trump held with the leaders of Russia and Saudi Arabia, providing an expanded list of targets for Congressional investigators pursuing an impeachment inquiry into the president.

The New York Times and CNN on Friday evening reported that White House officials had severely restricted access to calls with Russian president Vladimir Putin and members of the Saudi royal family, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The allegations come a day after the release of a whistleblower report in which a CIA officer says White House officials “l(fā)ocked down” the transcript of a call between Mr Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky because the US president had tried to pressure his counterpart to investigate former vice-president Joe Biden.