The Trump administration has released the much-anticipated transcript of President Trump's phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, after Mr. Trump announced on Twitter Tuesday he had authorized publishing the transcript.
In the call the president said that he would like to find out what happened with "this whole situation with Ukraine" and he said his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani would be traveling to Ukraine. Zelensky said he would meet with Giuliani when he visited.
Zelensky pledged that his new prosecutor would look into the case, and he asked for additional information.
Click here to read the transcript.
Trump told Zelensky he would have Giuliani give him a call, and also have Attorney General William Barr call "to the bottom of it."
"There's 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. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it ... It sounds horrible to me," Mr. Trump told Zelensky, referring to former Vice President Joe Biden.
Mr. Trump, under pressure to release the transcript, had already confirmed he had discussed former Biden with Zelensky and confirmed he slow-walked aid to Ukraine, although he claimed the two acts were unrelated. That call and a whistleblower complaint involving Mr. Trump have pushed growing numbers of Democrats to call for impeachment proceedings, which are now formally beginning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Wednesday afternoon.
Mr. Trump said Tuesday the transcript would reveal it was a "very friendly and totally appropriate call."
"No pressure and, unlike Joe Biden and his son, NO quid pro quo! This is nothing more than a continuation of the Greatest and most Destructive Witch Hunt of all time!" the president tweeted Tuesday afternoon. He suggested the next day that Democrats should apologize after seeing what was said on the call.
"They should, a perfect call - got them by surprise!" he tweeted Wednesday before its release.
Mr. Trump had previously said he hoped the public would see the transcript, but he feared the precedent it might set for other world leaders who want to keep their conversations with him private.
Biden, who called for the release of the transcript, insisted Tuesday Mr. Trump should be impeached if he continues to stonewall Congress.
"If the president doesn't comply with such a request from the Congress, he continues to obstruct Congress and flout the law, Donald Trump will leave Congress in my view no choice but to initiate impeachment," Biden said in a brief statement Tuesday afternoon. "That would be a tragedy but a tragedy of his own making."
But Democrats still aren't satisfied. That phone call is just one part of a whistleblower complaint Democrats want to see. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff tweeted Tuesday that the whistleblower wants to testify before his committee.
