U.S. President Donald Trump asked Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate if Democratic presidential contender and former Vice President Joe Biden shut down a probe into a Ukrainian company that employed his son, according to a summary of a transcript of a July telephone call between the two leaders, VOA news reports.
Democrats have accused Trump, who is seeking re-election next year, of seeking Zelenskiy’s help to dampen Biden’s chances of winning the Democratic presidential nomination.
“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,” Trump said, according to the summary released Wednesday by White House.
“Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it … It sounds horrible to me,” the transcript summary said.
Impeachment inquiry
The summary’s disclosure comes one day after Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump and allegations that he sought a foreign government’s help with his 2020 reelection bid.
Pelosi accused Trump of betraying his oath of office, U.S. national security and the security of U.S. elections.
Within minutes of Pelosi’s appearance, Trump responded with several tweets. “PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!” he said in one. “Such an important day at the United Nations, so much work and so much success, and the Democrats purposely had to ruin and demean it with more breaking news Witch Hunt garbage. So bad for our Country!” he said in another.
For months, Pelosi has resisted opening a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump over earlier allegations of obstruction of justice stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s influence in the 2016 election.
But the pressure on Pelosi has grown in recent days over reports Trump urged Zelenskiy to investigate Biden over a high-paying job his son Hunter had with a Ukrainian gas company.
Biden has been the Democratic front-runner for the presidential nomination and a potential rival to Trump in the 2020 election.
Ahead of the release of the transcript of the call, Trump said on Twitter, “You will see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call.”
….You will see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call. No pressure and, unlike Joe Biden and his son, NO quid pro quo! This is nothing more than a continuation of the Greatest and most Destructive Witch Hunt of all time!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 24 сентября 2019 г.
But Pelosi and other Democrats say there is much more to the allegations against Trump than just a telephone call.
Trump confirmed he told his staff to withhold $400 million in aid to Ukraine days before the July call. Democrats want to know whether Trump pressured Zelenskiy into investigating Biden, knowing the Ukrainian government badly wanted the U.S. aid.
“I’d withhold again and I’ll continue to withhold until such time as Europe and other nations contribute to Ukraine,” Trump told VOA’s Spanish Service.
Whistleblower allegations
The current controversy began last week when reports emerged that an unidentified whistleblower in the national intelligence community became alarmed about a series of actions inside the Trump administration, which include what is now known to be Trump’s telephone call with Zelenskiy.
The whistleblower contacted the intelligence inspector general, who called the complaint “serious” and “urgent.”
After initially refusing to hand over the whistleblower’s complaint to Congress as required by law, a senior Trump official said late Tuesday the White House will make it available to Congress by the end of the week.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said Tuesday that the whistleblower’s lawyer informed him that he or she wants to meet with the committee as soon as this week.
The Senate, by unanimous consent, agreed on a nonbinding resolution that the whistleblower’s complaint be immediately handed over to the House and Senate Intelligence committees. The House is expected to consider the resolution Wednesday.
In 2016 as vice president, Biden went to Ukraine and threatened to withhold billions of dollars in U.S. loan guarantees unless the government cracked down on corruption. Biden also demanded that Ukraine’s chief prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, be fired.
Shokin had previously investigated the gas company in which Hunter Biden served on the board. But the probe had been inactive for a year before former Vice President Biden’s visit. Hunter has said he was not the target of any investigation, and no evidence of any wrongdoing by the Bidens has surfaced.
VOA asked Zelenskiy about the current controversy. He declined to comment other than saying, “We have an independent country. We’re ready for everything.”
He said he believes his talks with Trump will be “very warm.”