White House wanted to ‘lock down’ transcript of Donald Trump’s Ukraine call
Donald Trump’s White House tried to “lock down” all records of the President’s phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart in which he asked the leader to dig up dirt on political rival Joe Biden, according to a whistleblower complaint.
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White House officials said they were “directed” by administration lawyers to remove the electronic transcript of the call from the computer system that staff regularly use to store such write-ups, the complaint, made public today, claims.
The whistleblower complaint was made public today, after it sparked Democrats to inititate an impeachment inquiry into Trump, who has denounced it as “presidential harassment”.
Trump’s administration yesterday released the transcript of the call, in which the President asked Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate unsubstantiated claims of an overlap between Biden’s time as vice-president and his son Hunter’s role on the board of a Ukrainian energy firm.
“Multiple White House officials with direct knowledge ofthe call informed me that, after an initial exchange of pleasantries, the President used the remainder of the call to advance his personal interests,” the anonymous whisteblower complaint read.
The complaint stated that during the call, Trump asked Zelensky to:
- Initiate or continue an investigation into the activities of former vice president Biden and his son, Hunter Biden
- Help prove that allegations of Russian interference in the US election started in Ukraine
- Speak with his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and attorney general William Barr, who would assist with these matters
A transcript of the call released by the White House yesterday showed Trump covered al three of these points in his and Zelensky’s conversation.
“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,” Trump said.
“So whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great.”
Trump raged on Twitter today after the complaint was released to the public.
“THE DEMOCRATS ARE TRYING TO DESTROY THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ALL THAT IT STANDS FOR. STICK TOGETHER, PLAY THEIR GAME, AND FIGHT HARD REPUBLICANS. OUR COUNTRY IS AT STAKE!” he tweeted.
Read more: Transcript shows Trump asked Ukraine leader to dig up dirt on Joe Biden