Trump acted like ‘mafia’ to demand probe on rival
DONALD Trump asked the Ukrainian president to do him “a favour” and investigate presidential rival Joe Biden prompting his impeachment inquiry, it emerged yesterday.
The White House released a memo of the US leader’s July phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskiy he thought would clear him of any wrongdoing.
But the move, against the wishes of senior cabinet members, backfired spectacularly with critics saying his conversation was a breach of power and he should be impeached.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said the details show a “classic mafia-like shakedown of a foreign leader”.
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said it showed Mr Trump was “the most corrupt president in the modern history of this country”.
The five-page transcript was made on the day of the July 25 phone call by note-takers in the White House as the President spoke to Mr Zelenskiy.
It began with Mr Trump congratulating the new Ukrainian leader on his election victory in April, before reminding the former comedian the US spends “a lot of effort and a lot of time” aiding his country. The US leader is then seen to repeatedly ask his foreign counterpart to investigate his Democrat rival Mr Biden, seeking an inquiry into a company tied to Mr Biden’s son. Hunter Biden had business dealings in the country five years ago, earning a reported £40,000 a month.
He began trips to Ukraine to assist a new pro-Western government takeover at the time his father was Barack Obama’s vice president. Hunter joined the board of the country’s largest private gas company, Burisma, leading to claims of a conflict of interest. But an investigation failed to find any wrongdoing.
However, on the call to Mr Zelenskiy, Mr Trump urged him to contact his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who had dealt with Ukrainian officials before.
Mr Trump said: “I would like you to do us a favour though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine...”
“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, so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great.”
He adds: “Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it... It sounds horrible to me.”
Mr Zelenskiy then moved to assure Mr Trump that his chief prosecutor would look into the situation.
The call came after Mr Trump had ordered the US to freeze nearly £322million in US aid to Ukraine.
The controversy led House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to finally give in to calls to investigate the US leader after months of resistance and launch an inquiry into whether or not Mr Trump should be impeached.
She said: “The President has tried to make lawlessness a virtue... It is not part of his job to use taxpayer money to shake down other countries for the benefit of his campaign.”
Mr Trump said of the inquiry: “It is the single greatest witch-hunt in American history, probably in history, but in American history.”