WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump urged
the new leader of Ukraine this summer to investigate the son of former
Vice President Joe Biden, a person familiar with the matter said.
Democrats condemned what they saw as a clear effort to damage a
political rival, now at the heart of an explosive whistleblower
complaint against Trump.
It was the latest
revelation in an escalating controversy that has created a showdown
between congressional Democrats and the Trump administration, which has
refused to turn over the formal complaint by a national security
official or even describe its contents.
Trump
defended himself Friday against the intelligence official’s complaint,
angrily declaring it came from a “partisan whistleblower,” though he
also said he didn’t know who had made it. The complaint was based on a
series of events, one of which was a
July 25 call
between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to
a two people familiar with the matter. The people were not authorized
to discuss the issue by name and were granted anonymity.
Trump,
in that call, urged Zelenskiy to probe the activities of potential
Democratic rival Biden’s son Hunter, who worked for a Ukrainian gas
company, according to one of the people, who was briefed on the call.
Trump did not raise the issue of U.S. aid to Ukraine, indicating there
was not an explicit quid pro quo, according to the person.
In
an interview with Ukrainian outlet Hromadske published Friday evening,
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said that his country is not
interested in taking sides in U.S. politics, but that Zelenskiy has the
right to keep the contents of his conversation with Trump secret. He
noted, however, that U.S. investigators have every right to uncover the
information at their end.
“I know what the
conversation was about and I do not think there was any pressure (from
Trump),” Prystaiko told Hromadske. “There was a conversation, different
conversation, leaders have the right to discuss any existing issues.
This was a long and friendly conversation that touched on a lot of
issues, sometimes requiring serious answers.”
Biden
reacted strongly late Friday, saying that if the reports are true,
“then there is truly no bottom to President Trump’s willingness to abuse
his power and abase our country.” He said Trump should release the
transcript of his July phone conversation with Zelenskiy “so that the
American people can judge for themselves.”
The
government’s intelligence inspector general has described the
whistleblower’s Aug. 12 complaint as “serious” and “urgent.” But Trump
dismissed it all Friday, insisting “it’s nothing.” He scolded reporters
for asking about it and said it was “just another political hack job.”
“I
have conversations with many leaders. It’s always appropriate. Always
appropriate,” Trump said. “At the highest level always appropriate. And
anything I do, I fight for this country.”
Trump, who took questions in the Oval Office alongside Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, whom he was hosting
for a state visit, was asked if he knew if the whistleblower’s
complaint centered on his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President
Zelenskiy. The president responded, “I really don’t know,” but he
continued to insist any phone call he made with a head of state was
“perfectly fine and respectful.”
Trump
was asked Friday if he brought up Biden in the call with Zelenskiy, and
he answered, “It doesn’t matter what I discussed.” But then he used the
moment to urge the media “to look into” Biden’s background with
Ukraine.
There has yet to be any evidence of any wrongdoing by Biden or his son regarding Ukraine.
Trump
and Zelenskiy are to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations next
week. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Trump pressed
Zelenskiy about Biden.
The standoff with
Congress raises fresh questions about the extent to which Trump’s
appointees are protecting the Republican president from oversight and,
specifically, whether his new acting director of national intelligence,
Joseph Maguire, is working with the Justice Department to shield the
president.
Democrats say the administration
is legally required to give Congress access to the whistleblower’s
complaint, and Rep. Adam Schiff of California has said he will go to
court in an effort to get it if necessary.
The
intelligence community’s inspector general said the matter involves the
“most significant” responsibilities of intelligence leadership.
House Democrats also are fighting the administration for access to witnesses and documents in impeachment probes.
In the whistleblower
case, lawmakers are looking into whether Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani
traveled to Ukraine to pressure the government to aid the president’s
reelection effort by investigating the activities of Biden’s son.
During
a rambling interview Thursday on CNN, Giuliani was asked whether he had
asked Ukraine to look into Biden. He initially said, “No, actually I
didn’t,” but seconds later he said, “Of course I did.”
Giuliani
has spent months trying to drum up potentially damaging evidence about
Biden’s ties to Ukraine. He told CNN that Trump was unaware of his
actions.
“I did what I did on my own,” he said. “I told him about it afterward.
Still
later, Giuliani tweeted, “A President telling a Pres-elect of a well
known corrupt country he better investigate corruption that affects US
is doing his job.” Democrats have contended that Trump, in the aftermath
of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, may have
asked for foreign assistance in his upcoming reelection bid.
Trump
further stoked those concerns earlier this year in an interview when he
suggested he would be open to receiving foreign help.
The
inspector general appeared before the House intelligence committee
behind closed doors Thursday but declined, under administration orders,
to reveal to members the substance of the complaint.
Schiff,
a California Democrat, said Trump’s attack on the whistleblower was
disturbing and raised concerns that it would have a chilling effect on
other potential exposers of wrongdoing. He also said it was “deeply
disturbing” that the White House appeared to know more about the
complaint than its intended recipient -- Congress.
The information “deserves a thorough investigation,” Schiff said. “Come hell or high water, that’s what we’re going to do.”
Among
the materials Democrats have sought is a transcript of Trump’s July 25
call with Zelenskiy. The call took place one day after Mueller’s
faltering testimony to Congress effectively ended the threat his probe
posed to the White House. A readout of the call released from the
Ukrainian government said Trump believed Kyiv could complete corruptions
investigations that have hampered relations between the two nations but
did not get into specifics.
Sen. Chris
Murphy of Connecticut, who in May called for a probe of Giuliani’s
effort in Ukraine, said in an interview on Friday it’s “outrageous” the
president has been sending his political operative to talk to Ukraine’s
new president. Murphy tweeted that during his own visit it was clear to
him that Ukraine officials were “worried about the consequences of
ignoring Giuliani’s demands.”
The senator
tweeted that he told Zelenskiy during their August visit it was “best to
ignore requests from Trump’s campaign operatives. He agreed.”
House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump faces “serious repercussions” if
reports about the complaint are accurate. She said it raises “grave,
urgent concerns for our national security.”
Letters
to Congress from the inspector general make clear that Maguire
consulted with the Justice Department in deciding not to transmit the
complaint to Congress in a further departure from standard procedure.
It’s unclear whether the White House was also involved, Schiff said.
Maguire
has refused to discuss details of the whistleblower complaint, but he
has been subpoenaed by the House panel and is expected to testify
publicly next Thursday. Maguire and the inspector general, Michael
Atkinson, also are expected next week at the Senate intelligence
committee.
Atkinson wrote in letters that
Schiff released that he and Maguire had hit an “impasse” over the acting
director’s decision not to share the complaint with Congress. Atkinson
said he was told by the legal counsel for the intelligence director that
the complaint did not actually meet the definition of an “urgent
concern.” And he said the Justice Department said it did not fall under
the director’s jurisdiction because it did not involve an intelligence
professional.
Atkinson said he disagreed
with that Justice Department view. The complaint “not only falls under
DNI’s jurisdiction,” Atkinson wrote, “but relates to one of the most
significant and important of DNI’s responsibilities to the American
people.”
___
Associated
Press writers Deb Riechmann, Eric Tucker, Alan Fram and Mary Clare
Jalonick in Washington, D.C., and Matthew Bodner in Moscow contributed
to this report.
