Trump attacks Biden, defends call with Ukraine leader as 'perfectly fine and routine' | TheHill - The Hill

President TrumpDonald John TrumpJulián Castro: It's time for House Democrats to 'do something' about Trump Warren: Congress is 'complicit' with Trump 'by failing to act' Sanders to join teachers, auto workers striking in Midwest MORE on Saturday defended his reported push for Ukraine's president to investigate former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenJulián Castro: It's time for House Democrats to 'do something' about Trump Warren: Congress is 'complicit' with Trump 'by failing to act' Sanders to join teachers, auto workers striking in Midwest MORE, maintaining his discussion with Ukraine's leader earlier this summer was "perfectly fine and routine."

In a pair of tweets Saturday morning, Trump argued that the news media was avoiding coverage of Biden's past ties to Ukraine and continued to highlight the former vice president's efforts to convince the country to fire a top prosecutor in 2016.

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"The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, want to stay as far away as possible from the Joe Biden demand that the Ukrainian Government fire a prosecutor who was investigating his son, or they won’t get a very large amount of U.S. money, so they fabricate a story about me and a perfectly fine and routine conversation I had with the new President of the Ukraine," Trump tweeted.

"Nothing was said that was in any way wrong, but Biden’s demand, on the other hand, was a complete and total disaster. The Fake News knows this but doesn’t want to report!" he added.

....story about me and a perfectly fine and routine conversation I had with the new President of the Ukraine. Nothing was said that was in any way wrong, but Biden’s demand, on the other hand, was a complete and total disaster. The Fake News knows this but doesn’t want to report!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 21, 2019

Democrats and other critics of the president have hammered Trump in recent days over reports of his repeated efforts to lobby Ukraine to launch an investigation into Biden, the current Democratic presidential frontrunner, arguing that it amounts to foreign interference in a U.S. presidential election.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden during a call in July, telling him roughly eight times to work with his personal attorney, Rudy GiulianiRudy GiulianiClarence Thomas, Joe Manchin, Rudy Giuliani among guests at second state visit under Trump Missing piece to the Ukraine puzzle: State Department's overture to Rudy Giuliani Biden blasts Trump, demands he release transcript of call with foreign leader MORE, on the matter.

Trump and other Republicans argue that Biden's efforts in 2016 to urge Ukrainian officials to fire the country's top prosecutor was motivated by a probe into a company on which Biden's son Hunter served as a board member.

The prosecutor in question later resigned after being the target of corruption allegations, while no evidence has emerged to support the claim launched by Trump allies about Biden's efforts to urge Ukraine to fire the official.

Biden dismissed the allegation on Friday while blasting Trump amid rising scrutiny over a whistleblower complaint reportedly involving a call the president had with a foreign leader.

“Not one single, credible outlet has given any credibility to his assertion. Not one single one,” Biden said of Trump's allegation against him. “So I have no comment except the president should start to be president.”

Trump's defense of his conversations with Ukraine's leader comes just a day after he asserted it "doesn't matter" what the two leaders discussed while calling for an investigation into Biden once again.

"It doesn't matter what I discussed, but I'll tell you this, somebody ought to look into Joe Biden's statement," Trump told reporters at the White House while hosting the prime minister of Australia.

The president has battled controversy for days after it was reported that a whistleblower in the intelligence community raised alarms over a promise Trump allegedly made to a foreign leader, supposedly involving Ukraine.

It's unclear if the whistleblower complaint reportedly involving Trump and Ukraine is related to the proposed Biden investigation.

Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire has reportedly refused to release the contents of the whistleblower complaint to members of Congress.

Lawmakers have pushed for the whistleblower complaint to be released to them in full, while some Democrats have renewed calls for Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiBiden blasts Trump, demands he release transcript of call with foreign leader Pelosi wants to change law to allow a sitting president to be indicted Overnight Health Care — Presented by Partnership for America's Health Care Future — Walmart to stop selling e-cigarettes | Senators press FDA to pull most e-cigarettes immediately | House panel tees up e-cig hearing for next week MORE (D-Calif.) to support impeachment proceedings in the wake of the news.

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https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/462444-trump-attacks-biden-defends-call-with-ukraine-leader-as-perfectly

2019-09-21 12:50:25Z
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