Trump responds to congressional charges over "suspicious call"

US President Donald Trump has denied that he has put any pressure on Ukraine's President Vladimir Zilinsky to investigate his possible political rival in the upcoming presidential election, Joe Biden, the former US vice president.

US media have reported that Trump encouraged Zelensky during a phone call to investigate the activities of Biden, who worked for a gas company in Ukraine when his father was a former vice president Barack Obama. Trump is also reported to have linked military aid to Ukraine with the investigation.

Trump told a news conference in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that he was under a false media campaign and demanded that Democrats be transparent about Biden's money instead of wasting time in nonsense.

He said Joe Biden received millions of dollars from China and Ukraine when he was former vice president Barack Obama.

This comes at a time when the Democratic Party decided to proceed with the proceedings of the parliamentary trial of Trump in preparation for his removal.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives will investigate Trump's charges of seeking help from a foreign head of state to discredit his Democratic opponent Joe Biden, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

Ukrainian exile
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zilinsky said his contact with Trump had caused a stir in the United States, and that he was not under any pressure from Trump.

Biden demanded that Trump publish the text of the phone call, stressing that he never talked "with" his son "about his professional activities abroad."

"I know what happened in the conversation and I think there was no pressure," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Vadim Pristikov said in an interview on Monday. "The conversation was long and friendly, I discussed many issues and sometimes asked for serious answers."

The Ukrainian official stressed that Zelensky has the right to keep the confidentiality of talks with other leaders, noting that Ukraine is "an independent state and has its secrets."

Achieving accountability may ultimately lead to Trump's removal, even though it will be a difficult task for Democrats. Even if the House votes to hold Trump accountable, it is the Republican-controlled Senate that will take the next step by removing him from office after his trial, and his conviction needs a two-thirds majority in the Senate.

It will be the first congressional accountability investigation since the 1998 investigation of former President Bill Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in relation to former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.