Donald Trump said Sunday that he mentioned Joe Biden when discussing corruption with the new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
While speaking to reporters outside the White House Sunday morning, the president said he and Zelensky agree that they don’t want U.S. citizens, including the former vice president and his son, Hunter Biden, creating more corruption in Ukraine.
‘We had a great conversation. The conversation I had was largely congratulatory, was largely corruption – all of the corruption taking place. Was largely the fact that we don’t want our people, like Vice President Biden and his son, creating to the corruption already in the Ukraine,’ Trump said before departing for a trip to Houston, Texas.
‘And Ukraine has a lot of problems,’ he added. ‘The new president is saying that he’s going to be able to rid the country of corruption. I said that would be a great thing.’
Although Trump admitted to mentioning Biden when speaking about keeping the Eastern European country clear of corruption, he did not address reports that he insisted Zelensky, who took office in May, prosecute Hunter Biden.
Donald Trump admitted Sunday that he did mention Joe Biden during a call about ‘corruption’ with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He insisted the only talk was about corruption, and did not address reports of him trying to pressure the Ukrainian leader
A whistle-blower alleged that in a call with Zelensky in July, Trump pressured him to prosecute former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden (left) to hurt Biden’s 2020 campaign. The president has dismissed the story and accusations as ‘ridiculous’
News reports came out Friday suggesting the president applied pressure to Zelensky, demanding he aggressively prosecute Hunter on corruption charges and use military aid as leverage.
Trump had dismissed the story as ‘ridiculous’ and insists it’s being driven by a ‘partisan’ accuser.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko defended the president on Saturday and denied reports that Trump had tried to pressure Zelensky during their phone call in July.
‘I know what the conversation was about and I think there was no pressure,’ Prystaiko said during an interview with local media outlet Hromadske. ‘This conversation was long, friendly, and it touched on many questions, sometimes requiring serious answers.’
The alleged whistle-blower wasn’t in on the call, and an official briefed on the situation told CNN that the individual doesn’t have any direct knowledge of the communications between Trump and Zelensky.
Hunter had ties to a natural gas firm in the Ukraine and was being investigated by a prosecutor there as part of a corruption probe, and Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, suggest that Biden protected his son from investigation while he was vice president.
Biden asserted Saturday that he has ‘never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.’
‘Here’s what I know,’ the top Democrat running for the presidential nomination in 2020 said, ‘Trump should be investigated.’
Trump told reporters Sunday that his top political rival is a ‘liar.’
When speaking to The New Yorker a few months ago, Hunter recalled a discussion he had with Biden about Burisma, the Ukrainian natural gas provider.
‘Dad said, ‘I hope you know what you are doing,’ Hunter said at the time. ‘And I said, ‘I do.’
On Saturday, Biden said the president is abusing his power and says Trump was only bringing him up during the call because he’s afraid of losing to him in 2020
While campaigning in Iowa on Saturday, Biden said Trump’s actions as alleged by the whistle-blower are ‘outrageous.’
‘This appears to be an overwhelming abuse of power,’ he lamented. ‘To get on the phone with a foreign leader who is looking for help from the United States and ask about me and imply things, this is outrageous.’
‘Trump is using this because he knows I’ll beat him like a drum and is using the abuse of power and every element of the presidency to try to do something to smear me,’ the candidate added.
The president call with Zelensky on July 25 is at the center of an escalating controversy over a whistle-blower’s complaint concerning Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.
Several reports outlined the accusations that Trump repeatedly asked Zelensky to investigate unsubstantiated charges that Biden, while vice president, threatened to withhold U.S. aid unless a prosecutor looking into a gas company Hunter was involved with was fired.
The reports say that the president urged Zelenskiy, a comedian who had recently won election at the time of the call, to speak with Giuliani.
Three congressional committees have previously announced a probe into whether Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani took actions in order ‘to pressure the government of Ukraine to assist the President’s reelection campaign.’
On Sunday, Trump told DailyMail.com before boarding Marine One that he would have ‘no problem’ with Giuliani testifying before Congress about his involvement in the controversy.
‘I would have no problem with [it],’ he said. ‘Rudy’s a very straight shooter.’
‘Rudy wants to see the same thing as a lot of other people with respect to Ukraine,’ Trump continued. ‘Ukraine has had a tremendous corruption problem.’