Democratic committee chairmen: Ukraine call transcript ‘damning’

The chairmen of four congressional committees slammed the partial transcript of a phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky released by the White House on Wednesday.

“The transcript is an unambiguous, damning, and shocking abuse of the Office of the Presidency for personal political gain,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) said in a joint statement.

{mosads}”This is a clear breach of trust placed in the President to faithfully execute the laws and to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution,” they continued. “The record of the call released by the White House confirms our worst fears: that the President abused his office by directly and repeatedly asking a foreign country to investigate his political rival and open investigations meant to help the President politically. Not once, not twice, but more than half a dozen times during one telephone call. This was a shakedown. The President of the United States asked for a ‘favor’ after the Ukrainian President expressed his country’s need for weapons to defend against Russian aggression.”

The partial transcript of the call released Wednesday confirms that Trump asked Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s role in the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor.

The White House released the document a day after House Democrats formally launched an impeachment inquiry against the president that was triggered by his dealings with Ukraine.

The four committee chairmen who issued the statement will continue their respective investigations into the administration, but will now do so under the umbrella of an impeachment inquiry.

Democrats are also seeking to obtain a whistleblower complaint that is reported to be about a series of conversations Trump had with Ukraine’s leader, not just the one phone call.

The president has denied any wrongdoing in his conversations with Zelensky.