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According to the transcript of a phone call between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskiy released by the White House on Wednesday, September 25, the US president has asked his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden.
It is a very tired Donald Trump who spoke this Wednesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. In the aftermath of the democrats ' impeachment campaign, the US president has been the victim of " the biggest witch hunt in American history ." In question, a telephone exchange dated July 25 with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The transcript of this conversation, which the White House has made public, confirms: Donald Trump has asked the head of the Ukrainian state to investigate his rival Joe Biden, favorite in the race for the Democratic nomination for the presidential election 2020. " There is a lot of talk about Biden's son and the fact that Biden stopped the investigation and many people want to know more about it, so it would be great if you could look into it, " he told Volodymyr Zelenskiy. .
On this occasion, Donald Trump offers his Ukrainian counterpart the opportunity to work in cooperation with his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, " a highly respected man " and with the US Minister of Justice Bill Barr. He said that the two lawyers will get in touch with him soon.
Counterparty?
Hunter Biden was a member from 2014 to 2019 of the monitoring committee of the Ukrainian gas group Burisma, a time targeted by a corruption investigation. He was never worried. Donald Trump accuses Joe Biden of having demanded in 2015 the dismissal of the Ukrainian Attorney General to protect the interests of his son. While Vice President Barack Obama, Joe Biden demanded the departure of this prosecutor, but as part of a campaign against corruption conducted with Europeans and international organizations who, too, were campaigning for the departure of this official accused of hindering reforms.
A few days before the phone call, the US president froze aid worth nearly $ 400 million to Kiev. Democrats suspect him of using this lever to pressure his counterpart to harm Joe Biden and announced Tuesday they would open a dismissal procedure against him. In his conversation, the tenant of the White House does not mention this help; he just complains that the United States is doing more for Ukraine than the Europeans.
The conversation between the two heads of state, however, raises the question of another counterpart, Donald Trump inviting his counterpart in Washington, after listening to his response on his request for Joe Biden. " The United States has been very, very good for Ukraine, and I would not say it has necessarily been reciprocal, " he said, adding that the sprawling (now closed) investigation into the interference Russian presidential election 2016 had found ramifications in Ukraine.
An "innocuous" exchange
But on Wednesday, the US president denounced a case " rise from scratch " and defended himself to have exercised " the slightest pressure " on his counterpart, describing the exchange as " innocuous ". " It was a good phone conversation, normal, " Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. " No one put pressure on me, " he added, insisting that he did not want to "get involved in the US elections."
It is " even more damning than what I had or what many others had imagined, " denounced to the press the elected Democrat Adam Schiff, chairman of the Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives, " these notes reflect a classic mafia blackmail ". In the Republican camp, the discomfort is also palpable. Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney ruled the phone call " deeply worrying ".
(With AFP)