Trump says that he will ‘probably’ release transcript from April phone call with Zelensky Tuesday

President Trump said Saturday he will “probably” release the transcript of another phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky next week as the House impeachment investigation enters a new, public phase. 

Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews that he will likely release the transcript Tuesday of a conversation he had with Zelensky in April, three months before a second conversation the two leaders had that is now at the heart of the impeachment inquiry.

{mosads}”They want to have a transcript of the other call, the second call, and I’m willing to provide that,” Trump said Saturday. “You’ll read the second call, and you’ll tell me if there’s anything wrong with it.”

Trump’s dealings with Ukraine first came under scrutiny after a whistleblower raised alarm over a July conversation between the two presidents. A rough transcript of the call later released by the White House showed Trump repeatedly leaned on Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a chief political rival, on ungrounded corruption allegations.

Trump has maintained that his July call with Zelensky was “perfect,” and the White House has repeatedly blasted the House investigation as a “witch hunt.”

“There shouldn’t be anything. There shouldn’t be impeachment hearings,” Trump said Saturday.

The impeachment investigation has escalated after several witnesses testified behind closed doors that they believed that $400 million in military aid to Ukraine and a meeting with Zelensky hinged on Kiev complying with Trump’s request to investigate Biden and 2016 election meddling. 

The release of the transcript Tuesday would come during the same week the House will hold its first public interviews for its probe.

House Republicans submitted a list of witnesses they want to interview, including the anonymous whistleblower, Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, high-ranking State Department official David Hale and Tim Morrison, the top Russia and Europe adviser on the National Security Council.

However, in a sign House Republicans also seeks to underscore unsubstantiated claims related to the 2016 presidential campaign, they also listed Nellie Ohr, a former Fusion GPS contractor, and Alexandra Chalupa, a former Democratic National Committee staffer.