Trump prods for probe

More than once, President Donald Trump brought up how much the US has done for Ukraine.

Time and again, he asked Ukraine’s president for help.

There was no explicit quid pro quo in Trump’s half-hour phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskiy in July. But it wouldn’t have been a stretch to make a connection between Trump’s pleas for help and his mentions of US assistance.

“We do a lot for Ukraine,” Trump said at one point. “Do us a favour,” he asked at another.

The White House released a rough transcript of the two leaders’ phone call yesterday, and it showed that Trump repeatedly prodded Zelenskiy to work with the US Attorney General and lawyer Rudy Giuliani to investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden.

Trump raised allegations, without citing any evidence, that the former Vice-President sought to interfere with a Ukrainian prosecutor in regard to son Hunter. “Whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great,” Trump told Zelenskiy, asking for help in investigating Biden. He referred to Giuliani, his personal lawyer and trusted adviser, and said, “I will ask him to call you along with the attorney general”.

After saying Giuliani and Barr would be in touch, Trump referenced Ukraine’s economy, saying: “Your economy is going to get better and better I predict. You have a lot of assets. It’s a great country.”

Zelenskiy had earlier brought up his desire to purchase more Javelin anti-tank missiles from the US.

The July 25 conversation between the two leaders is part of a whistleblower’s complaint that is central to the formal impeachment inquiry launched on Wednesday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The White House account reveals that Trump was willing to engage a foreign leader to dig up dirt on a political foe. Days before the call, Trump froze nearly US$400 million ($635m) in aid to Ukraine. It was not clear from the summary whether Zelenskiy was aware of that, and the White House did not respond to requests to clarify.