Donald Trump will release the transcript of a second phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ‘probably on Tuesday’ as the Democrat’s impeachment probe against him enters a new phase.
Trump said he first spoke with Volodymyr Zelensky in April, but it was his contact with Zelensky on July 25 that sparked the impeachment probe after Trump demanded that the Ukrainian Government investigate Joe Biden and his son.
On Saturday, POTUS called the April call transcript ‘very important’ and said he would release it ‘probably on Tuesday,’ CNN reported.
Donald Trump will release the transcript of a second phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ‘probably on Tuesday’ as the Democrat’s impeachment probe against him enters a new phase
President Donald J. Trump waves beside First Lady Melania Trump as they walk across the South Lawn of the White House to depart by Marine One in Washington
Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, before boarding Air Force One, he again insisted he was not guilty of any wrongdoing.
The President and First Lady Melania Trump are due to attend the Louisiana State University Tigers vs. Alabama Crimson Tide Football Game on Saturday afternoon.
‘You’ll read the second call, and you’ll tell me if there’s anything wrong with it,’ he said. The call took place months before the July conversation at the center of the impeachment inquiry.
‘There shouldn’t be anything. There shouldn’t be impeachment hearings,’ he said, and branded all of the evidence so far as ‘third-hand knowledge.’
Republicans demand that Hunter Biden and whistle-blower give evidence to impeachment inquiry
Republicans want Joe Biden’s son Hunter, (pictured), and the whistleblower who sparked the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump to testify at upcoming hearings
Republicans want Joe Biden’s son Hunter and the whistleblower who sparked the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump to testify at upcoming hearings.
House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes wrote to Committee Chairman Adam Schiff this week with a list of witnesses they want to see testifying so POTUS ‘can be afforded the opportunity to confront his accusers.’
At the top of the list, obtained by Fox News, is Hunter Biden, who has emerged as pivotal figure in the investigation as Trump demanded the Ukrainian Government to investigate him over his business dealings in the country.
Burisma Holdings is the Ukrainian energy company where Hunter held a lucrative board seat while his father was vice president.
Trump personally appealed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Biden. A whistleblower’s complaint about that call triggered the probe, which also focuses on allegations that Trump was holding up military aid to Ukraine.
Republicans had stated in testimony that former State Department official George Kent raised concerns about ‘the appearance of a conflict of interest stemming from Mr. Biden’s position on Burisma’s board.’
He added that Marie Yovanovich, the former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, was prepared by the Obama State Department to address questions about Biden’s position on Burisma during her Senate confirmation process.
It has also emerged that the whistleblower, whose identity remains anonymous, has been asked testify publicly as part of the inquiry.
Fox reported that Republicans also want to call Alexandra Chalupa as a witness. She was a Ukrainian-American consultant for the Democratic National Committee, who allegedly held meetings with staff at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
The claimed she is a ‘prime witness’ given Trump’s documented belief that the Ukrainian government meddled in the 2016 election to oppose his candidacy.
Also included on the list are Nellie Ohr, a researcher at opposition research firm Fusion GPS, who allegedly told Congress that her firm obtained information from Ukraine.
The firm was paid by Democrats to compile dossier on Trump’s Russia ties which was turned over to the FBI before the presidential election and formed the basis of the Mueller investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Trump attacked the Democrats over weekend by tweeting a graphic to a report from Rasmussen Reports which gave him a 50 per cent approval rating
Trump has dismissed the significance of the impeachment inquiry testimony that has been released so far and called it ‘third hand knowledge’
Trump brought up the call himself Friday when defending his July 25 call with Zelensky, which he called a ‘perfect call,’ despite a brief discussion of Joe Biden and asking the Ukrainian president for a ‘favor, though’ in the form of an investigation.
‘I had a very good call with the president of Ukraine … the call was perfect,’ Trump said.
‘I had a second call with the president which actually I believe came before this one. And now they all want that one. And If they want it I’ll give it to them,’ Trump said. ‘I haven’t seen it recently, but I’ll give it to them.’
‘I understand they’d like it, and I have no problem giving it to them,’ Trump said.
The public phase of Democratic-run impeachment hearings is about to begin, with three key witnesses scheduled to appear next week, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff announced.
In September, the White House released the bombshell transcript of President Donald Trump’s phone call with the president of Ukraine where Trump urges his counterpart to investigate Joe Biden and work directly with his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani
And Trump attacked the Democrats over weekend by tweeting a graphic to a report from Rasmussen Reports which gave him a 50 per cent approval rating.
In a Tweet along with the caption he said: ‘But the Witch Hunt continues. After 3 years of relentless attacks against the Republican Party & me, the Do Nothing Dems are losers for America! PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!.
He then alluded to earlier reports that Republicans want Joe Biden’s son Hunter and the whistleblower who sparked the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump to testify at upcoming hearings.
In a tweet he said: ‘I recommend that Nervous Nancy Pelosi (who backed up Schiff’s lie), Shifty Adam Schiff, Sleepy Joe Biden, the Whistleblower (who miraculously disappeared after I released the transcript of the call), the 2nd Whistleblower (who also disappeared), & the I.G., be part of the list!.’
House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes wrote to Committee Chairman Adam Schiff this week with a list of witnesses they want to see testifying so POTUS ‘can be afforded the opportunity to confront his accusers.’
At the top of the list, obtained by Fox News, is Hunter Biden, who has emerged as pivotal figure in the investigation as Trump demanded the Ukrainian Government to investigate him over his business dealings in the country.
A whistleblower alleged that Trump improperly pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a July 25 phone call to help the US leader’s upcoming reelection campaign
When he was Vice-Presiednt, Joe Biden urged the Ukrainian government to fire a prosecutor, which Trump and his allies have charged was done to benefit Burisma. The Bidens have denied this and there has been no evidence of wrong-doing on their part
In September, the White House released the bombshell transcript of President Donald Trump’s phone call with the president of Ukraine where Trump urges his counterpart to investigate Joe Biden and work directly with his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
But the transcript does not show Trump tying the investigation to aid for Ukraine as he spoke to Volodymyr Zelensky, the quid pro quo which some reports had suggested it contained.
The call forms part of the whistle-blower complaint from an unknown intelligence official which alleges a pattern of wrongdoing by the president in his dealings with Ukraine, but which has been blocked from being given to Congress.
In the call, the president mentions political rival Biden by name, seeks an inquiry into a company tied to Biden’s surviving son, Hunter, and predicts Ukraine’s economy will do ‘better and better’ – but does not explicitly tie the United States’ aid to the country to the investigation he demands.
He urges the president to contact Giuliani, who this summer called off a planned mission to Ukraine after bringing up a Ukrainian energy company where Hunter Biden served on the board.
Trump also attacked Nancy Pelosi and claimed in a Tweet on Saturday that she should be part of the list of witnesses that Republicans want to appear before the impeachment inquiry
The public phase of Democratic-run impeachment hearings is about to begin next week, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff announced
‘There is 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 says, according to the transcript.
‘Biden went about bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it… it sounds horrible to me,’ the president told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Ukrainian president assured Trump: ‘The next prosecutor general will be 100 per cent my person, my candidate, who will be approved, by the parliament and will start. As a new prosecutor in September.
‘He or she will look into the situation, specifically to the company that you mentioned in this issue.
‘The issue of the investigation of the case is actually the issue of making sure to restore the honesty so we will take care of that and will work on the investigation.’
Ukraine’s president Zelensky said he wanted to ‘drain the swamp’ and called Trump a ‘great teacher for all of us,’ according to the transcript.
Trump told his counterpart: ‘I heard you had a prosecutor who was very good and he was shut down and that’s really unfair. A lot of people are talking about that, the way they shut your very good prosecutor down and you had some very bad people involved.’
‘Mr. Giuliani is a highly respected man. He was the mayor of New York City, a great mayor, and I would like him to call you.
I will ask him to call you along with the Attorney General. Rudy very much knows what’s happening and he is a very capable guy. If you could speak to him that would be great,’ Trump said.