WASHINGTON – Remember when Democrats insisted that President Trump was “working on behalf of the Russians,” only to have special counsel Robert Mueller declare he “did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities”?
Well, we now have the rough transcript for Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and it’s clear that, once again, Democrats got ahead of the evidence.
Keep in mind, when this story broke, The Washington Post reported that “two former U.S. officials” said “Trump’s interaction with the foreign leader included a ‘promise’ that was regarded as so troubling that it prompted an official in the U.S. intelligence community to file a formal whistleblower complaint.” Well, it turns out Trump makes no “promise” anywhere in the transcript. He makes no threats, either. Indeed, it was Zelensky who raised the issue of investigating corruption, not Trump.
NBC’s Katy Tur claimed that the transcript shows Trump said, “Will you do me a favor and investigate Vice President Biden’s son?” No, he didn’t. When Trump asked Zelensky to “do us a favor,” it had nothing to do with Biden. According to the transcript, he was asking Zelensky to cooperate with an official Justice Department investigation into the origins of the Mueller probe that is being led by U.S. Attorney John Durham, a career prosecutor.
In his complaint, the whistleblower (who admits “I was not a direct witness to most of the events described”) describes Trump asking Zelensky to cooperate with this investigation as an effort “to advance his personal interests.” That is ridiculous. Since when is it inappropriate for the president of the United States to ask a foreign leader to cooperate with an official Justice Department investigation?