Updated
US President Donald Trump asked his Ukrainian
counterpart to investigate former vice-president Joe Biden, according to
a phone call summary released by the Trump administration.
Key points:
- Democrats are accusing Mr Trump of soliciting Ukraine's help to smear Mr Biden
- The summary says Mr Trump asked Ukraine to work with his Attorney-General
- The call came after Mr Trump froze around $391 million in aid to Ukraine
During the July phone call, Mr Trump said there had been "a lot of talk" that Mr Biden had shut down a Ukrainian investigation into a company where his son worked.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday announced the Democratic-led House was moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry and directed six committees to proceed with investigations of the President's actions.
Democrats have accused Mr Trump, who is seeking re-election next year, of soliciting Ukraine's help to smear Mr Biden, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, before the 2020 election.
"There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney-General would be great," Mr Trump said in the call with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to the summary provided by the US Justice Department.
"Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it … It sounds horrible to me," he said, according to the memo.Mr Trump said the inquiry would be "a favour".
The call occurred after Mr Trump had ordered the US Government to freeze about $391 million in American aid to Ukraine.
The House inquiry could lead to articles of impeachment that could trigger a trial in the Senate on whether to remove Mr Trump from office.
"The actions of the Trump presidency revealed a dishonourable fact of the President's betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections," Ms Pelosi said on Tuesday.
'A disgraceful thing'
The release of the rough transcript set the parameters of the political debate to come, with Mr Trump dismissing it as routine and Democrats saying it laid the ground for an impeachment inquiry.Speaking to reporters in New York after the release of the call summary, Mr Trump called the impeachment inquiry "a disgraceful thing" and denied he pressured Mr Zelenskiy.
"It's the single greatest witch hunt in American history," Mr Trump said.After the release of the summary, Mr Trump's former Democratic rival in the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton, tweeted that the President had "betrayed his country".
Influential Republican senator Lindsey Graham said the call was "appropriate" and called for further investigations into Mr Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said Mr Trump sounded like a "mafia boss" in the transcript, and compared it to a "shakedown".
He said it was "powerful evidence" of an impeachable office.
Mr Trump's phone call to the Ukrainian President was part of a whistleblower's complaint, however the administration has blocked Congress from getting other details of the report, citing presidential privilege.
The whistleblower's complaint was being reviewed for classified material and could go to Congress by Thursday, according to a person familiar with the issue who was not authorised to discuss it publicly, and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Attorney-General did not contact Ukraine
Mr Trump told Mr Zelenskiy that Attorney-General William Barr, the top US law enforcement official, would reach out to him about re-opening the investigation into the Ukrainian gas company.
The connection to Mr Barr marks a potentially serious issue for Mr Trump, because it suggests he took steps to involve the US Government with a foreign country to investigate a political rival.
But Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Mr Trump did not ask Mr Barr to contact Ukraine, and Mr Barr had not communicated with Ukraine about a possible investigation or any other subject.
Mr Barr, who was appointed by Mr Trump, first found out about the conversation several weeks after it took place, Ms Kupec said.
Mr Trump has withstood repeated scandals since taking office in 2017. House Democrats had considered, but never moved ahead with, pursuing articles of impeachment over Mr Trump's actions relating to Russian interference in the 2016 US election aimed at boosting his candidacy.
Under the US constitution, the House has the power to impeach a president for "high crimes and misdemeanours". No president has ever been removed from office through impeachment.
Democrats currently control the House and Mr Trump's fellow Republicans control the Senate.
Mr Trump is seeking a second four-year term in the November 2020 election.
Reuters/AP
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