Romney: Trump asking Ukraine to investigate political rival ‘would be troubling in the extreme’

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said on Sunday it would be “troubling in the extreme” if President Trump urged Ukrainian officials to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

“If the President asked or pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate his political rival, either directly or through his personal attorney, it would be troubling in the extreme. Critical for the facts to come out,” Romney tweeted.

If the President asked or pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate his political rival, either directly or through his personal attorney, it would be troubling in the extreme. Critical for the facts to come out.

— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) September 22, 2019

The tweet comes amid reports that both Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani have attempted to persuade Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Biden or his son.

Romney is one of the first Republican officials to deliver anything other than an unqualified defense of Trump on the subject.

{mosads}The existence of an anonymous whistleblower report that purportedly alleges Trump asked Zelenskiy for an investigation several times on a call was made public last week.

The White House has yet to release a transcript of the call or the full complaint, although Trump implied on Sunday that he had discussed Biden with the Ukrainian president, telling reporters the topic of discussion “was largely the fact that we don’t want our people like Vice President Biden and his son [contributing] to the corruption already in the Ukraine.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday in a letter that “if the Administration persists in blocking this whistleblower from disclosing to Congress a serious possible breach of constitutional duties by the president, they will be entering a grave new chapter of lawlessness which will take us into a whole new stage of investigation.”