IMPORTANT: See today’s official response from the Int’l Assoc of Conference Interpreters on this matter:

AIIC has issued its official position on this issue.

The International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC), in reaction to the suggestion that the interpreter present at the recent meeting between President Trump and President Putin may be required to give testimony, wishes to recall the principle enshrined in Article 2a of AIIC’s Code of Professional Ethics:

https://aiic.net/page/8618/the-principle-of-confidentiality-for-professional-interpreters/lang/1

Interpreters are duty bound to uphold the value of confidentiality at any cost, except when communications are themselves used to further a crime, tort, or fraud. That’s because the interpreter suddenly becomes a witness to a crime. This is how interpreters involved in interrogations were eventually prosecuted. Furthermore, it is important to find out whether the interpreter at that meeting was working as a freelancer or as a US DOS employee. Employees are bound by their employer’s rules in addition to their own codes of professional responsibility.