Donald Trump Hints At Releasing Transcript Of Controversial Phone Call With Ukrainian President

A phone call from President Donald Trump to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky back in July has garnered worldwide media attention and a seemingly equal amount of criticism from the president’s opponents in recent days after a whistleblower in the intelligence community cried foul, accusing Trump of asking an inappropriate favor of the foreign leader.

According to The Hill, Trump told reporters on Sunday that he’s considering releasing a transcript of the call, after repeatedly describing the phone call as “perfect.”

“We’ll make a determination about how to release it, releasing it, saying what we said,” Trump said to reporters before explaining the value of a level of privacy when speaking to foreign dignitaries.

“The problem is, when you’re speaking to foreign leaders, you don’t want foreign leaders to feel that they shouldn’t be speaking openly,” he said. “And the same thing with an American president. You want them to be able to express themselves without knowing that every single word was going to be going out and going out all over the world.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo isn’t as open to releasing the call’s transcript as his boss in the White House, saying earlier this week that it wouldn’t be appropriate “except in the most extreme circumstances.”

The president was accused by an unnamed whistleblower of pressuring Zelenksky to dig up dirt on an investigation involving the son of former vice president Joe Biden, Hunter Biden. Trump has denied that he made such requests but did confirm to reporters on Sunday that he talked about Biden in the phone call.

Biden issued several strong responses to the allegations and slammed Trump for using his power in the White House to attack him. Biden is currently Trump’s top political rival for the 2020 presidential election. Biden, along with several other top Democrats, have demanded the release of the transcript.

As reported by The Inquisitr, Rep. Adam Schiff recently issued a stern warning that if reports of what Trump allegedly said to the Ukrainian president are true, that Congress would have no choice but to begin impeachment proceedings. Schiff, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, was the point man for the investigation into Trump’s possible collusion with Russia.

“I’ve spoken with a number of colleagues over the last week and this seems different in kind and we may very well have crossed the Rubicon here,” Schiff said, in regards to the seriousness of the allegation.

Schiff has also charged that the transcript is being illegally held from Congress in an effort to protect Trump and the White House.