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Trump asked Ukraine leader for 'a favor' and to investigate Biden, memo shows Trump pressed Ukraine leader to investigate Biden, memo reveals
(about 2 hours later)
Donald Trump pushed the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Joe Biden in a July phone call, telling Zelenskiy he should work with the US attorney general William Barr on the investigation, according to a memorandum of the call released by the White House on Wednesday. Donald Trump pressed the Ukrainian president to work with the US attorney general to investigate political rival Joe Biden, a damning White House memo revealed on Wednesday, raising the stakes in an acrimonious and polarising impeachment inquiry.
The memo shows Trump asking Zelenskiy to “do us a favor”, before asking Zelenskiy to “look into” Biden and his son Hunter. Democrats said the US president’s conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskiy detailed in the five-page rough “transcript” was a “devastating” betrayal of his country that merited impeachment, while Republicans claimed it showed no quid pro quo and offered complete vindication.
Pelosi announces impeachment inquiry into Trump over Ukraine scandal The disclosure came a day after Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, announced an official impeachment inquiry into Trump following a whistleblower’s complaint regarding alleged misdeeds by Trump, setting the stage for a long and rancorous fight ahead of next year’s presidential election.
Trump has claimed, without evidence, that Biden improperly used his then position as vice-president to” get Ukraine’s prosecutor-general fired, in order to help his son’s business interests in the country. Trump repeatedly says “the prosecutor” was unfairly treated. Some observers expressed surprise that the White House had agreed to release such a damaging memo detailing the 25 July call between Trump and Zelenskiy. Though not a verbatim transcript, it showed that, after being congratulated on his victory in the Ukrainian election, Zelenskiy thanked the US for its military support and said he was almost ready to buy more American weapons.
The Trump administration published the memo, which is not a verbatim transcript but is based on notes taken by national security officials as the conversation took place, on Wednesday morning.
Far from exonerating Trump, as the president had promised, the memo will more likely buoy Democrats, who announced a formal impeachment inquiry on Tuesday evening.
The most damning passage in the memo shows Trump stressing to Zelenskiy: “We do a lot for Ukraine.” He adds: “I wouldn’t say that it’s reciprocal necessarily,because things are happening that are not good, but the United States has been very, very good to Ukraine.”
Trump continues: “I would like you to do us a favor though, because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.”
The president then asks Zelenskiy to investigate a “server”, and suggests Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation “started in Ukraine” .
The conversation then moves on to Biden, one of Trump’s leading rivals in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump says on the call: “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.”
He goes on: “Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it. It sounds horrible to me.”
Article 1 of the United States constitution gives the House of Representatives the sole power to initiate impeachment and the Senate the sole power to try impeachments of the president. A president can be impeached if they are judged to have committed "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors" – although the constitution does not specify what “high crimes and misdemeanors” are.
The process starts with the House of Representatives passing articles of impeachment. A simple majority of members need to vote in favour of impeachment for it to pass to the next stage. With a full house, that requires 218 of the 435 representatives to vote. Democrats currently control the house, with 235 representatives.
The chief justice of the United States then presides over the proceedings in the Senate, where the president is tried, with senators acting as the jury. For the president to be found guilty two-thirds of senators must vote against them. Republicans currently control the Senate, with 53 of the 100 senators.
Two presidents have previously been impeached, Bill Clinton in 1998, and Andrew Johnson in 1868, though neither were removed from office as a result. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 before there was a formal vote to impeach him.
Martin Belam
Later Trump criticizes “the former ambassador from the United States, the woman” – apparently referring to Marie Yovanovitch, who was recalled from Ukraine in May after being criticized by rightwing media.
“Well, she’ s going to go through some things. I will have Mr Giuliani give you a call, and I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call and we will get to the bottom of it. I’m sure you will figure it out. I heard the prosecutor was treated very badly and he was a very fair prosecutor so good luck with everything. Your economy is going to get better and better I predict. You have a lot of assets.”
The Department of Justice swiftly released a statement asserting that Barr did not speak to Zelenskiy.
It said: “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.”
Trump is due to meet Zelenskiy on Wednesday in New York, at the United Nations, in their first face-to-face meeting.
The timing of the pre-planned meeting with Zelenskiycomes less than 24 hours after Nancy Pelosi announced the US House of Representatives would begin a formal impeachment inquiry. Trump is the fourth president in US history to face such a congressional investigation.
On Wednesday morning Trump accused the Democrats of being “frozen with hatred and fear”, and repeated his claim that he was the victim of a “witch-hunt”.
The White House has indicated it may release details of a whistleblower’s complaint, related to the call, on Thursday.
“The actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the constitution,” Pelosi said as she announced the impeachment inquiry. “The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law.”
Impeachment: how does it work and what happens next?Impeachment: how does it work and what happens next?
Trump had previously admitted that he discussed Biden on a call with Zelenskiy, but has denied any suggestion of a “quid pro quo”, despite reportedly freezing $400m in aid to Ukraine days before speaking with Zelenskiy. Trump replied: “I would like you to do us a favor though,” and went on discuss possible joint investigations. Later in the conversation, he told Zelenskiy he should work with Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and the US attorney general, William Barr, to look into unsubstantiated allegations that Biden, the former vice-president, helped remove a Ukrainian prosecutor investigating his son, Hunter, who was on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.
The acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, is due to testify in public to Congress on Thursday, his deadline for turning over the whistleblower complaint. The hearing comes a week after a closed-door hearing where he refused to reveal details after being blocked from doing so by the White House and the DoJ. “I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it,” Trump said. “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.”
During a meeting with the Democratic caucus on Tuesday, Pelosi, after months of resistance, said her party must “strike while the iron is hot”. She then supported an impeachment inquiry. The previously unknown connection to Barr was a potentially grave development for Trump because it shows he sought to involve the US government with a foreign country to look for dirt on a potential election rival. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden, currently a frontrunner for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president.
Launching an impeachment inquiry does not necessarily mean that the House will vote to charge the president with “high crimes and misdemeanors”, though that is the likely outcome of such a process. If the House does charge the president, the articles of impeachment would then be sent to the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans who rarely break with Trump. Democrats seized on the memo’s contents, saying it showed Trump used his powers not for America’s national security but to hurt Biden and help his own re-election. Adam Schiff, chair of the House intelligence committee, told reporters: “The notes of the call reflect a conversation far more damning than I and many others had imagined.”
Only two presidents have ever been impeached – Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. Neither were convicted by the Senate. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 before a vote on impeachment in the full House could be taken. The conversation represented a “classic, mafia-like shakedown of a foreign leader”, Schiff added. “This is how a mafia boss talks. And it’s clear that the Ukraine president understands exactly what is expected of him.”
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, a leading advocate of impeachment, tweeted: “‘I would like you to do us a favor...’ Folks, I am surprised the White House even released this transcript. It’s worse than we thought.
“The President sought to use the powers of the United States government to investigate a political opponent. We have no choice but to impeach.”
Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut added on Twitter: “Zelenskiy asked for more military aid. Moments later, Trump told him to investigate Biden ... The president engaged in an outright betrayal of our country.”
But the alternative realities that have pervaded American politics for the past three years were still in evidence. Trump and his allies sought to paint a very different picture, insisting that the memo proved his innocence. The president, who was at the UN general assembly in New York on Wednesday, told reporters: “The way you had that built up, that call 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.’”
The Trump re-election campaign fired off emails seeking to raise funds off the “smear job” by soliciting donations for an “Official Impeachment Defense Task Force”.
Brad Parscale, Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, suggested that the move to impeach will energise Trump’s supporters and boost his chance of re-election. “Because of their pure hatred for President Trump, desperate Democrats and the salivating media already had determined their mission: take out the President,” he said.
“The facts prove the President did nothing wrong. This is just another hoax from Democrats and the media, contributing to the landslide re-election of President Trump in 2020.”
Pelosi announces impeachment inquiry into Trump over Ukraine scandal
There was little sign of Republicans breaking ranks, meaning that, even if Trump is impeached by the House, he would not be convicted and removed from office by the Republican controlled Senate. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Trump loyalist, tweeted: “Wow. Impeachment over this? What a nothing (non-quid pro quo) burger. Democrats have lost their minds when it comes to President @realDonaldTrump.
One of the few dissenting voices was Senator Mitt Romney, a former Republican nominee for president. Speaking at the Atlantic magazine festival in Washington, he said of the transcript: “My reaction was the same as I had a few days ago, which is this remains deeply troubling and we’ll see where it leads. But my first reaction is it’s troubling.”
Trump had recently confirmed that he ordered the freezing of nearly $400m in military aid to Ukraine a few days before the call. He claimed it was because the US was paying more than its fair share rather than any threat of blackmail or a quid pro quo. The aid was eventually released under pressure from Congress.
Trump was due to meet Zelenskiy on Wednesday in New York, at the United Nations, in their first face-to-face meeting.
The Ukraine scandal erupted after an intelligence community whistleblower came forward. Democrats have been demanding details of the whistleblower’s complaint, but the acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, has refused to share that information, citing presidential privilege. He is to testify before the House on Thursday.
On Wednesday it also emerged that the intelligence community’s inspector general told the acting director of national intelligence that the call could have been a federal campaign finance violation. But the justice department determined the president did not commit a crime after prosecutors reviewed a rough transcript.
The justice department also denied that Trump had sought to involve Barr in any attempt to inflict damage on Biden. “The President has not asked the Attorney General to contact Ukraine – on this or any other matter,” a spokesperson said. “The Attorney General has not communicated with Ukraine – on this or any other subject. Nor has the Attorney General discussed this matter, or anything relating to Ukraine, with Rudy Giuliani.”
Donald TrumpDonald Trump
Nancy PelosiNancy Pelosi
House of RepresentativesHouse of Representatives
US politicsUS politics
UkraineUkraine
EuropeEurope
Volodymyr ZelenskiyVolodymyr Zelenskiy
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