Trump insists he never pressed Ukraine during phone call to dig for dirt on Biden
WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats on Monday pressed their demands for full disclosure of a whistleblower’s complaint about President Donald Trump and intensified calls for impeachment. Mr. Trump insisted anew he did nothing wrong in his conversation with Ukraine’s leader that is at the center of the complaint.
Republican lawmakers remained largely silent amid the reports that the president pressured Ukraine’s leader to help investigate political rival Joe Biden at the same time the White House was withholding $250 million in aid to the Eastern European nation.
Mr. Trump acknowledged the phone call and said he didn’t want to give money to Ukraine — if there were corruption issues. His comments raised further questions about whether he improperly used his office to pressure the country into investigating the former vice president and his family as a way of helping his own re-election prospects.
“It’s very important to talk about corruption,” Mr. Trump told reporters as he opened meetings at the United Nations. “If you don’t talk about corruption, why would you give money to a country that you think is, is corrupt?”
Mr. Trump has sought, without evidence, to implicate Mr. Biden and his son, Hunter, in the kind of corruption that has long plagued Ukraine. Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company at the same time his father was leading the Obama administration’s diplomatic dealings with Kyiv. Though the timing raised concerns among anti-corruption advocates, there has been no evidence of wrongdoing by either the former vice president or his son.
The matter is under new scrutiny following the whistleblower’s mid-August complaint, which followed Mr. Trump’s July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The person who filed the complaint did not have firsthand knowledge of the call, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Lawmakers are demanding details of the complaint, but the acting director of national intelligence has refused to share that information, citing presidential privilege.
Later Monday, Mr. Trump denied telling the Ukraine president that his country would only get U.S. aid if it investigated Mr. Biden’s son. “I didn’t do it,” he said, adding that he hoped a transcript would be made available to demonstrate his innocence.
Earlier, speaking to reporters as he arrived at the United Nations, Mr. Trump also appeared to acknowledge that U.S. military aid to Ukraine was part of the conversation.
“It’s very important to talk about corruption,” Mr. Trump said in response to a question from a reporter about the contents of the call. “If you don’t talk about corruption, why would you give money to a country you think is corrupt? One of the reasons the new president got elected is he was going to stop corruption, so it’s very important that on occasion you speak to somebody about corruption.”
Senior Ukrainian officials said they were blindsided over the summer when they heard the United States would withhold security assistance to the country.
During a meeting with President Andrzej Duda of Poland on Monday, Mr. Trump suggested that his main complaint about the U.S. aid to Ukraine — which he temporarily suspended this summer before releasing it last month amid bipartisan pressure from Congress — involved a lack of European assistance to the country. “Why isn’t Europe helping Ukraine more?” Mr. Trump said. “Why is it always the United States?”