US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the UN General Assembly, New York, September 25, 2019 (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty)

The White House reconstruction of a July phone call between Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirms that Trump pressured Kiev to investigate former Vice President and 2020 Presidential candidate Joe Biden.

The furor over Trump’s possible illegal act and compromise of US foreign policy began last week with the revelation of an official complaint by a member of the US intelligence services. The complaint, including the Ukraine case amid multiple claims, was found to be of “urgent concern” by the intelligence community’s Inspector General.

That triggered a legal requirement to notify Congressional committees, but Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire — scheduled to appear before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday — refused to provide the content of the complaint to legislators.

The White House also withheld the transcript of the Trump-Zelenskiy call. But on Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — who had held out for months against an impeachment process — formally announced the launch of an inquiry, with Ukraine as the catalyst amid multiple investigation of Trump over his tax, business, financial, and political affairs.

See TrumpWatch, Day 978: Impeachment — Pelosi Announces Inquiry Over Trump’s Ukraine Call
EA on Monocle 24 and BBC: Impeachment Inquiry Begins Into Trump

A five-page reconstruction was finally released on Wednesday. In the call, Trump repeatedly asks Zelenskiy to open investigation into Biden and the Democrat Party. Trump pushed an unsupported conspiracy theory that Biden, then Vice President, forced the dismissal of Ukraine’s top prosecutor in 2016 to protect his son Hunter, a board member of the Ukraine gas company Burisma.

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. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it….It sounds horrible to me.

In fact, Biden’s intervention in 2016 was an official demand from the Obama Administration for Kiev to deal with corruption, a demand also being made by the European Union and groups inside Ukraine. In March 2016, the Ukrainian Parliament removed Prosecutor Viktor Shokin for his alleged corruption and misuse of power.

There is no evidence that Biden’s 2016 mission had any connection with his son, and Ukraine’s current Prosecutor-General reiterated in May that there was no evidence of a legal violation by Hunter Biden.

But Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani, who had been seeking political “dirt” on Biden since late 2018, continued to pursue meetings with Ukrainian officials. The office of Zelenskiy, inaugurated in May, reportedly deflected Giuliani’s attempt to see the new President.

Trump said, in the reconstruction of the call:

I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call and I am also going to have Attorney General [William] Barr call and we will get to the bottom of it. I’m sure you will figure it out. I heard the prosecutor was treated very badly and he was a very fair prosecutor so good luck with everything.

Trump’s Threat Over Military Aid?

Days before the call, Trump personally ordered the suspension of $400 million of US military aid for Ukraine, despite Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support of separatists in the east of the country, according to multiple officials.

The revelation further bolstered the possibility that Trump used military aid as leverage to get Zelenskiy’s approval of an investigation into Biden.

The reconstruction does not show a direct link, but there is an implied connection. Zelenskiy, without mentioning any suspension, coaxes Trump into giving an assurance of assistance:

I would also like to thank you for your great support in the area of defense. We are ready to continue to cooperate for the next steps. specifically we are almost ready to buy more Javelins [anti-tank missiles] from the United States for defense purposes.

Trump responds, “I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.”

Trump then asks for another investigation of an unsupported conspiracy theory, pushed by his attorney Giuliani, that Ukraine had some involvement in e-mails stolen from the Democratic National Committee in 2016. (In fact, the hacking of the e-mails by Russian operatives was at the heart of the Trump-Russia inquiry of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.)

The [DNC] server, they say Ukraine has it. There are a lot of things that went on, the whole situation. I think you’re surrounding yourself with some of the same people. I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it. As you saw yesterday, that whole nonsense ended with a very poor performance by a man named Robert Mueller, an incompetent performance, but they say a lot of it started with Ukraine. Whatever you can do, it’s very important that you do it if that’s possible.

Zelenskiy, without making any commitment, replies carefully, “Yes it is very important for me and everything that you just mentioned earlier. For me as a President, it is very important and we are open for any future cooperation.”

Trump presses to the end of the conversation, “I will tell Rudy and Attorney General Barr to call. Thank you. Whenever you would like to come to the White House, feel free to call. Give us a date and we’ll work that out. I look forward to seeing you.”

Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair of the House Intelligence Committee, summarized:

There was only one message that that president of Ukraine got from that call and that was: “This is what I need, I know what you need.”

Like any mafia boss, the President didn’t need to say, “That’s a nice country you have — it would be a shame if something happened to it.”

Pressure Builds as Complaint Finally Given to Legislators

Democratic legislators were only bolstered in their pursuit of impeachment by the reconstruction, with 218 of the party’s 235 House members — a majority of the 435-seat chamber — now favoring proceedings.

Facing a House vote demanding the released of the US intelligence official’s complaint, the White House finally relented last night and provided it to legislators.

Reaction generally followed party lines. Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley said the account of multiple incidents was “deeply disturbing,” but Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik said that she still did “not support impeachment of President Trump”.

A few GOP legislators dared to express concern. Sen. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican Presidential nominee, said the record of Trump’s phone call was “deeply troubling“.

But most refused to break their ties to Trump, clinging to the argument of no direct connection between military aid and Trump’s pursuit of an investigation into Joe Biden. “From a quid pro quo aspect, there’s nothing there,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump friend.

Trump jabbed, during an appearance alongside Zelenskiy on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, “It’s a joke. Impeachment for that?”

The Ukraine President, continuing to navigate carefully as he seeks US support, said that he felt no pressure during the July call with Trump.