Trump prodded Ukraine leader to investigate Biden

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump repeatedly prodded Ukraine’s new leader to work with the U.S. attorney general and lawyer Rudy Giuliani to investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden, according to a rough transcript summarising the call released Wednesday.

In the call, Trump raised allegations, unsupported by any evidence, that the former vice president sought to interfere with a Ukrainian prosecutor’s investigation of his son Hunter.

“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,” Trump said to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The conversation between the two leaders is one piece of a whistleblower’s complaint, which followed the July 25 call.

The complaint is central to the formal impeachment inquiry launched Tuesday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The release of the rough transcript set the parameters of the political debate to come.

Trump, at the U.N. on Wednesday, dismissed it and said as he often does that’s he’s the victim of “the single greatest witch hunt in American history.”

Democrats say it lays the ground for the congressional impeachment inquiry.

The connection to Attorney General William Barr marked a new and potentially more serious issue for Trump because it shows he took steps to involve the U.S. government with a foreign country to investigate a political rival.

Trump aides believed that his oblique, message-by-suggestion style of speaking would not lend itself to the discovery of a “smoking gun” in Wednesday’s summary.

His messages to his staff were at the centre of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into obstruction of justice in the Trump-Russia case.

One example in the summary: Trump says to Zelenskiy, “I would like for you to do us a favour though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.”

In the conversation, Trump doesn’t distinguish between the roles of Giuliani, his personal attorney and political ally, and Barr, who as the nation’s top law enforcement officer is supposed to be above the political fray. Barr has been a staunch defender of Trump, most notably during the Mueller investigation.

“Mr. Giuliani is a highly respected man, he was the mayor of New York City, a great mayor, and I would like him to call you,” Trump said, according to the call summary. “I will ask him to call you along with the attorney general.”

Barr hasn’t discussed anything related to Ukraine with Giuliani, officials said.

Trump has recently confirmed that he ordered the freezing of nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine a few days before the call.

It was not clear from the summary whether Zelenskiy was aware that Trump had frozen the aid.

The president has insisted he did nothing wrong and has denied that any request for help in procuring damaging information about Biden was tied to the aid freeze.

It’s not the first time Trump has sought foreign assistance to undermine a political rival.

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