Washington - US President Donald Trump asked Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelensky to potentially open a corruption
investigation into Joe Biden, Trump's political rival, in a phone
call in July, a transcript released by the White House showed.
"Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if
you can look into it ... It sounds horrible to me," Trump is quoted
as saying in the transcript. He asked Zelensky to "do us a favour."
The release of the previously confidential transcript comes as
Trump's rival Democrats have launched an impeachment inquiry against
him, threatening, at the very least, to put immense political
pressure on the White House ahead of elections next year.
"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," the
five-page transcript quotes Trump as saying, referring to US Attorney
General William Barr.
Zelensky did promise to carry out investigations. "I guarantee as the president of Ukraine that all the investigations will be done openly
and candidly," he said.
The transcript itself does not show any pressure by Trump on Zelensky
with regards to an alleged direct link between Washington withholding
military aid and the new Ukrainian president investigating Biden.
Foreign aid did come up extensively, with Trump saying the US was
doing far more than European nations to help Ukraine, and Zelensky
agreeing that Washington was doing more than Brussels to enforce
sanctions on Russia.
"It turns out that even though logically, the European Union should
be our biggest partner but technically the United States is a much
bigger partner than the European Union," Zelensky said.
Germany was singled out in particular as talking about Ukraine but
not doing enough to counter Russia to achieve the stated objectives
of the Western bloc.
After the release, Trump bashed "corrupt reporters" who had "built
up" the call, saying the transcript showed there was no pressure.
"The way you had that built up, that call, it was going to be the
call from hell and it turned out to be a nothing call," he said.
Trump had insisted there was "no quid pro quo" in the call and denied
any wrongdoing, as Biden's Democratic Party has launched an
impeachment inquiry into the Republican president.
Fox News quoted a US Justice Department spokesperson as saying there
was no request from Trump to Barr to contact Ukraine.
One figure who repeatedly is mentioned in the call is Trump's
personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who has become a central figure in the
saga, though his exact role is unclear, other than that he has
admitted to contacting Ukraine in the affair.
Trump met Zelensky at a dinner on the sidelines of the UN General
Assembly in New York this week. The two are due to hold a formal
bilateral later in the day.
Trump was alleged to have pressured Zelensky during the call to
provide information on possible corruption in the 2014 appointment of
Biden's son to a senior job at Ukrainian oil and gas company Burisma.
Biden, who is challenging Trump for the presidency, was vice
president when his son Hunter joined Burisma's board of directors
amid a pivotal strengthening of Ukrainian state ties with the West,
particularly the US and the European Union.
Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the top
Democrat who announced the impeachment inquiry on Tuesday, told
reporters she had not yet seen the transcript, but repeated her
insistance that "Trump will be held accountable ... no one is above
the law."