Trump authorizes release of ‘complete’ transcript of call with Ukraine’s Zelensky, Dems still not happy
US President Donald Trump said a full transcript of his recent call with the Ukrainian president is to be released, but Democrats continue with calls for impeachment and plan to interview the whistleblower on the incident.
Trump tweeted on Tuesday that he had authorized the release of the “complete, fully declassified and unredacted transcript” of his conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky. In a separate tweet, he said it was a “very friendly and totally appropriate call” and he applied “no pressure” on the Ukrainian leader.
Democrats had been up in arms after a whistleblower complained that Trump had allegedly had an inappropriate call with a foreign leader, who media reported to be Zelensky. The call was apparently related to allegations that Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in US loan guarantees to Kiev unless the government fired a prosecutor who was investigating an energy company his son Hunter worked for.
Also on rt.com Trump says Republicans would get ‘ELECTRIC CHAIR’ if they ‘did what Joe Biden did’ in UkraineEarlier on Tuesday, Trump said that a Republican would be "getting the electric chair" if he did what Biden did. He also denied that his own decision to withhold $400 million in aid to Ukraine had anything to do with Biden.
Yet, despite the imminent release of the full transcript of the call with Zelensky, Democrats are still not satisfied. US House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, known for his elaborate Russiagate conspiracies, said his panel is in contact with a lawyer representing the whistleblower who may give testimony as early as this week.
We have been informed by the whistleblower’s counsel that their client would like to speak to our committee and has requested guidance from the Acting DNI as to how to do so.We‘re in touch with counsel and look forward to the whistleblower’s testimony as soon as this week.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) September 24, 2019
ABC News White House reporter tweeted that while Trump is releasing the transcript of the call, Democrats still want to see the exact complaint the whistleblower made.
While Trump is releasing the transcript of his call with Ukraine’s President — that’s not the whistleblower complaint which is about the call. Democrats want to see the complaint. They are currently drafting a resolution to pressure the DNI to release the complaint to Congress.
— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) September 24, 2019
Some on Twitter even suggested that Trump might release an "edited" transcript of the call instead of the real one.
Will we see the real transcript of the Ukraine call or an edited one, as the Trump admin has released in the past? Either way, Trump’s actions were WRONG, compromising, dangerous and undermine the integrity of our elections, democracy and balance of law + power across the world. https://t.co/xuHVAV4JRw
— Erin Schrode (@ErinSchrode) September 24, 2019
Republicans on the other hand, are expressing concerns that releasing the transcript of the call to appease Democrats and the media would set a "dangerous precedent."
In his Tuesday tweets, Trump called the recent accusations and controversy "nothing more than a continuation of the Greatest and most Destructive Witch Hunt of all time!"
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