Senators Jeff Merkley and Tom Markey led a group of lawmakers in a formal appeal to the Department of Energy and the State Department regarding classified nuclear records. The request targets two binding side letters negotiated as part of a proposed civil nuclear agreement between the US and Saudi Arabia, which the lawmakers want declassified.

The bipartisan group argued that withholding these documents lacks precedent for agreements intended for peaceful nuclear cooperation. They wrote to Marco Rubio and Energy Secretary Wright that releasing the main agreement text while keeping the side letters secret leaves the Trump administration's transparency efforts only half met.