Seeking favours Trump pressed Ukraine President to probe political rival

President Donald Trump pressed Ukraine’s president to investigate a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, in coordination with the U.S. attorney general and Trump’s personal lawyer, according to a summary of a momentous telephone call released by the Trump administration on Wednesday.
The official account of the half-hour July call laid bare an astonishing exchange of requests, pledges and ingratiation, including some unrelated to Biden, such as when Trump asked President Volodymyr Zelenskiy “to do us a favor” involving a controversy arising from the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. The summary was released a day after House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Democratic-led chamber was launching an official impeachment inquiry, setting up a dramatic political showdown that threatens Trump’s presidency as he campaigns for re-election in 2020. The details of the July 25 call drew furious reactions from Democrats, who accused Trump of soliciting Ukraine’s help to smear Biden, the front-runner among Democratic candidates seeking to challenge the Republican president next year.
The call occurred after Trump had ordered a freeze of nearly $400 million in American aid to Ukraine, which the administration only later released.
“What those notes reflect is a classic Mafia-like shakedown of a foreign leader,” said Democrat Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
In a statement, Biden said Congress must hold Trump to account for “his abuse of power,” adding, “It is a tragedy for this country that our president put personal politics above his sacred oath.”
Trump and Zelenskiy appeared side-by-side in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly and denied impropriety in their call, with Ukraine’s president telling reporters “nobody pushed me.”
Trump denied pressuring Zelenskiy and lashed out at Pelosi as having bowed to “radicals” in her party. “As I’m concerned, unfortunately, she’s no longer the speaker of the House,” Trump said.
According to the summary, Trump told Zelenskiy that Attorney General William Barr, the top U.S. law enforcement official, and Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani would speak to him about re-opening a Ukrainian investigation into a Ukrainian gas company for which Biden’s son Hunter had served as director.
“The other thing, 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,” Trump said, referring to Barr.
In the summary, Trump never explicitly told Zelenskiy that U.S. aid was contingent upon him investigating Biden, but Trump emphasized the importance of American support before pressing him for action on Biden.
“I will say that we do a lot for Ukraine,” Trump said. Trump then said German Chancellor Angela Merkel “doesn’t do anything” for Ukraine but that “the United States has been very, very good to Ukraine.” According to the summary, Zelenskiy responds that Trump is “1,000%” right, thanks Trump for “your great support in the area of defense” and said he planned to buy more Javelins, anti-tank missiles developed by the U.S. military that are now produced by Raytheon Co (RTN.N) and Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N).