TRUMP RELEASES RECORD OF FRIENDLY CALL
President Donald Trump yesterday sought to bolster his case that he did nothing wrong in Ukraine by releasing the reconstruction of a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which they exchanged little more than pleasantries.
The growing impeachment case against Trump revolves around a later phone call in which the US president asks Zelensky for a “favour” by opening a corruption investigation allegedly aimed at embarrassing his possible 2020 Democratic rival
Joe Biden. Unlike that controversial discussion, which took place on July
25, the newly released call, held three months earlier, contains no mention of the Biden family.
Instead, Trump congratulates the just elected Ukrainian president, who in turn tries to persuade his US counterpart to attend the upcoming inauguration.
Trump dangles out the possibility of a later Zelensky visit to the White House and says how much he admires Ukraine, referring to when he owned the Miss Universe franchise.
“When I owned Miss Universe, they always had great people,” he said.
Although Trump called the April 21 phone log a “transcript,” it is not a verbatim transcription made from a recording, but a reconstruction based on notes taken by staff in the room.
‘Dirty trickster’ found guilty
A jury convicted Trump’s longtime adviser Roger Stone (pictured) yesterday, finding the long-time Republican operative and self-proclaimed “dirty trickster” guilty on seven criminal counts of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering. The verdict, in a trial arising from investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 US election, is not only a blow to Stone but renews scrutiny on Trump’s actions as a candidate at a time when he faces an impeachment inquiry that could derail his presidency. Stone, a 67-year-old veteran Republican political operative and a self-described “dirty trickster” and “agent provocateur” was charged this year by Special Counsel Robert Mueller with obstructing justice, witness tampering and lying to the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee during its investigation into Russian election interference.