Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked President Donald Trump to dispatch Rudy Giuliani to Ukraine to share information with the country’s leadership, according to a transcript of the phone call reviewed by The Federalist.
The transcript of the phone call between the two world leaders, which took place July 25, 2019, began with Trump congratulating Zelensky on his party’s victory in parliamentary elections. The two men discussed ways to work together on energy independence, how to increase European Union support of Ukraine, and ways to cooperate to restrain Russia, specifically via sanctions.
Zelensky first raised the issue of rooting out corruption in Ukraine and said he wanted to “drain the swamp” in his country given the long history of political and corporate corruption there. He mentioned to Trump that he had recently called Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S. and planned to replace the official with “a very competent and very experienced ambassador.” Zelensky then told Trump that he was “hoping very much that Mr. Giuliani will be able to travel to Ukraine and we will meet once he comes to Ukraine.”
Trump also asked Zelensky to investigate Ukraine’s involvement in the Russian collusion hoax operation during and after the 2016 election in the U.S.
“I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine,” Trump said, according to a review of the transcript of the phone call. “They say Crowdstrike … I guess you have one of your wealthy people … The server, they say Ukraine has it.”
“I would like to have the attorney general call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it,” Trump said.
The Department of Justice confirmed today that it is investigating the role of Ukrainian and other countries’ officials in foreign interference in the U.S. elections in 2016.
“A Department of Justice team led by U.S. Attorney John Durham is separately exploring the extent to which a number of countries, including Ukraine, played a role in the counterintelligence investigation directed at the Trump campaign during the 2016 election,” Justice spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement. She added that while Attorney General William Barr has yet to contact Ukraine in connection with this investigation, certain Ukrainians who are not members of the government have volunteered their cooperation with Durham.
Joe Biden and his son Hunter were mentioned only one time during the call, when Trump noted that the former vice president had “stopped the prosecution” involving a Ukrainian energy company that reportedly paid Hunter Biden $50,000 a month to sit on its board.
At no point did Trump tie any U.S. financial aid to Ukraine for investigations of Hunter Biden’s controversial business activities in the country, a review of the transcript shows.
While reports from anonymous bureaucrats leaking to the media suggested that Trump had tied disbursement of taxpayer funds to a personal favor, the transcript instead showed Zelensky affirming his gratitude to the United States for its support of the Ukrainian economy relative to its own neighbors, including strong support for Russian sanctions. The United States is a “bigger partner than the European Union … especially when we are talking about sanctions against the Russia Federation,” Zelensky told Trump.
