‘No pressure’: Donald Trump defends phone call with Ukrainian president
Democrats say transcript confirms need for impeachment as Trump defends ‘friendly’ call.
Donald Trump pressed the Ukrainian president to investigate his political rival Joe Biden and told him to work with the US Attorney-General William Barr according to an explosive account of a phone call between the two leaders.
The release in Washington of the rough transcript of the July 25 call has set off a major fight between both sides of politics, with Democrats saying it revealed the impeachable offence of an abuse of presidential power.
Republicans countered that the transcript showed no direct evidence that the president threatened US aid to pressure Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Mr Biden.
Donald Trump is asked why it is appropriate to ask a foreign leader for information about a political rival and what he would say if Barack Obama had done the same.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 25, 2019
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The five-page transcript shows Mr Trump asked Mr Zelensky to work with Mr Barr or with his lawyer Rudy Giuliani to investigate the conduct of Mr Biden and his son Hunter Biden in the Ukraine.
“There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney-General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it. … it sounds horrible to me,” Mr Trump said.
Mr Zelensky agreed to the president’s request: “(The prosecutor) will look into the situation, specifically to the company that you mention,” he says. “I would kindly ask you if you have any additional information that you can provide us, it would be very helpful for the investigation.”
- READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW (mobile users click here)
Mr Trump says: “I will have Mr Giuliani give you a call and I am going to have Attorney-General Barr call and we will get to the bottom of it. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
In the phone call, before Mr Trump made his request about Mr Biden, the two leaders talked about US aid to Ukraine, with Mr Trump saying: “we do a lot for Ukraine, we spend a lot of effort and a lot of time.”
Mr Zelensky said he was “very grateful” and said Ukraine planned to buy more military equipment from the US. But at no stage in the conversation was there a specific quid pro quo where Mr Trump linked US aid to his request about Mr Biden.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2019
Mr Trump had withheld almost $US400 million in US aid to Ukraine a week before the phone call but claimed the decision was not linked to the Biden issue.
The president, speaking after the transcript was released, defended the phone call saying it was “friendly” and that “there was no pressure”.
“The way you had that built up, that call, it was it was going to be the call from hell, it turned out to be a nothing call, other than a lot of people said I never knew you could be so nice,” Mr Trump said.
Democrat house speaker Nancy Pelosi said the transcript confirmed the need for an impeachment inquiry. “The release of the notes of the call by the White House confirms that the president engaged in behaviour that undermines the integrity of our elections, the dignity of the office he holds and our national security. The president has tried to make lawlessness a virtue in America and now is exporting it abroad,’ she said.
The Democrat head of the house intelligence committee Adam Schiff claimed the transcript revealed an impeachable offense.
“The president of United States is shaking down a foreign leader, undermining the national security of this country for a personal political gain that violates his oath of office,” he said.
The phone call was part of a broader complaint filed against Mr Trump by an unnamed whistleblower, an intelligence officer, who is expected to testify to Congress in the coming days.
It has been revealed that this complaint was referred by the intelligence inspector general to the Justice Department as a possible violation of campaign finance law by the president but prosecutors decided last week that the alleged conduct was not criminal.
Will the Democrats apologize after seeing what was said on the call with the Ukrainian President? They should, a perfect call - got them by surprise!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2019
The Justice Department said it did not know, until the whistleblower complaint, that the president had tried to involve Mr Barr in the Ukraine issue and it said Mr Barr did not subsequently get involved.
“The President has not spoken with the Attorney-General about having Ukraine investigate anything relating to former Vice President Biden or his son. The President has not asked the Attorney-General to contact Ukraine — on this or any other matter,” Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said.
Mr Trump wanted the Ukraine to investigate whether Mr Biden improperly sought to remove a Ukrainian prosecutor because that prosecutor was looking into possible corruption in a company where Mr Biden’s son Hunter was a board member. Mr Biden has denied the allegation and the Ukrainian government has not accused either Mr Biden or his son of wrongdoing.
Democrats have began an impeachment inquiry into Mr Trump, alleging that he abuses his presidential powers by pressuring a foreign leader to investigate a domestic political opponent.
The account of the phone call released by the White House is not a verbatim account of the conversation but was “developed with assistance from voice recognition software along with experts and note takers listening”.
Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia
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