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Trump Denies He Tied Ukraine Aid to Corruption Investigation of Biden Democrats Demand Disclosures on Trump’s Ukraine Talks as Impeachment Calls Mount
(about 4 hours later)
President Trump denied on Monday that he had withheld security aid from Ukraine in an effort to pressure its president to investigate a political rival, even as he defended his attempt to enlist a foreign leader to dig up dirt on an adversary. WASHINGTON — Leading congressional Democrats demanded on Monday that the Trump administration turn over documentation about allegations that President Trump sought to pressure the Ukrainian president to dig up dirt on a leading political rival, as a growing number of their colleagues said his actions could warrant impeachment.
As he began several days of international diplomacy at the United Nations, Mr. Trump was defiant in the face of allegations that his conversation with President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he leveled unsubstantiated corruption charges against former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son Hunter Biden, amounted to a grave abuse of presidential power. Mr. Trump, buffeted by questions about his conduct on a day of international diplomacy at the United Nations, denied accusations that he had withheld $391 million in security aid from Ukraine in an attempt to press President Volodymyr Zelensky to do his bidding. The president also continued to insist he had acted appropriately.
The conversation, which is said to be part of a whistle-blower complaint that his administration refuses to share with Congress, occurred as the administration was delaying the release of a $391 million security aid package to Ukraine, raising questions about whether the president used the money as leverage to settle a political score. “No, I didn’t — I didn’t do it,” Mr. Trump told reporters, when asked whether he had conditioned the aid on the promise of an investigation of unsubstantiated corruption charges against former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son Hunter Biden. But not long before, the president had suggested that there would be nothing wrong with his linking funding for Ukraine, a former Soviet republic that is fighting Russian-backed separatists, to a corruption inquiry about Mr. Biden and his family.
“No, I didn’t — I didn’t do it,” Mr. Trump told reporters, when asked whether he had conditioned the aid on the promise of an investigation of Mr. Biden. He said he hoped that the transcript of a July 25 phone call he had with Mr. Zelensky would be released, claiming that it would exonerate him. “And I hope you get to see it soon,” he said. But then the president angrily denied that he had committed to releasing the document, arguing that making the transcript public would set a bad precedent, and he waffled repeatedly over whether he would authorize its disclosure. “Why would you give money to a country that you think is corrupt?” Mr. Trump said.
Earlier, Mr. Trump appeared to argue that there would be nothing wrong with linking military aid for Ukraine, a former Soviet republic that is fighting Russian-backed separatists, to a corruption inquiry of Mr. Biden and his family. It was one of a series of whipsawing declarations Mr. Trump made throughout the day on Monday as he defended himself, vilified the Bidens and appeared by turns eager and reluctant to reveal the facts at the root of the allegations. Mr. Trump first said he hoped that the transcript of a July 25 phone call he had with Mr. Zelensky would be released, claiming that it would exonerate him, only to angrily deny moments later that he had committed to doing so.
“If you don’t talk about corruption, why would you give money to a country that you think is corrupt?” he said. “I hope you get to see it soon,” Mr. Trump said, before arguing that making the transcript public would set a bad precedent.
During a meeting with President Andrzej Duda of Poland on Monday, Mr. Trump suggested that his main complaint about the American aid to Ukraine — which he temporarily suspended this summer before releasing it last month amid bipartisan pressure from Congress — involved a lack of European assistance to the country. “Why isn’t Europe helping Ukraine more?” Mr. Trump said. “Why is it always the United States?” Mr. Biden chimed in via the president’s favorite platform, Twitter, responding to Mr. Trump’s dismissal of charges of misconduct by writing, “So release the transcript of the call then.”
Members of Congress have called on the White House to release the transcript of Mr. Trump’s call with Mr. Zelensky, and Democrats were moving aggressively on Monday to use their oversight powers to compel the administration to comply with their requests. House Democrats were doing everything they could to try to force Mr. Trump’s hand, even as they weighed voting on a resolution this week condemning Mr. Trump’s actions and the chorus of lawmakers demanding impeachment grew louder.
The chairmen of three House committees investigating the matter threatened to issue subpoenas in the coming days if the administration did not hand over a transcript of the call and documents related to the decision to withhold the aid money. A failure to do so — or to disclose to Congress a secretive whistle-blower complaint said to be related to the Ukraine matter — would be considered obstruction, they said, an indication that they could consider it grounds for impeachment.
“If press reports are accurate, such corrupt use of presidential power for the president’s personal political interest — and not for the national interest — is a betrayal of the president’s oath of office and cannot go unchecked,” the chairmen of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight and Reform Committees wrote on Monday in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
They added, “By withholding these documents and refusing to engage with the committees, the Trump administration is obstructing Congress’s oversight duty under the Constitution to protect our nation’s democratic process.”
It appeared increasingly likely that the brewing conflict would come to a head on Thursday, when the House Intelligence Committee was already scheduled to question Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, who has withheld the whistle-blower complaint under advisement from the Justice Department and the White House. The panel has demanded that Mr. Maguire bring with him a copy of it. Now, lawmakers also want a decision by Mr. Pompeo — and by extension, Mr. Trump — by that day on whether he will furnish a transcript of the presidential conversation, as well as other materials they have requested.
Mindful that Democrats may have only a brief window to decide their course, Speaker Nancy Pelosi summoned the leaders of six House committees involved in investigations of the president to meet on Tuesday, telling the lawmakers to come without aides. Afterward, she planned to convene a special meeting of the Democratic caucus to discuss impeachment.
Their decisions could have grave implications for Mr. Trump’s presidency.
A growing number of House Democrats — including some previously reluctant to back impeachment — said on Monday that the new revelations all but demanded the move. They warned that a decision by the Trump administration not to hand over documents about a matter of urgent national security would leave the House with no choice but to initiate full-bore impeachment proceedings. At the same time, they said, any material that corroborated news reports about Mr. Trump’s actions could lead to the same outcome.
“It is clear that the sitting president of the United States placed his own personal interests above the national security interests of the United States,” said Representative Angie Craig of Minnesota, who flipped a Republican seat last fall. She called for impeachment proceedings to begin “immediately, fairly and impartially.”
Ms. Craig did not act alone. Her announcement came alongside that of another Minnesota freshman, Dean Phillips, who warned, “If the reports are corroborated, we must pursue articles of impeachment and report them to the full House of Representatives for immediate consideration.” Other, more veteran lawmakers, issued similar statements.
Veteran Democrats close to Ms. Pelosi, who has stubbornly resisted impeachment, joined the chorus as well. “An impeachment inquiry may be the only recourse Congress has if the president is enlisting foreign assistance in the 2020 election,” said Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut. “Congress must meet this pivotal moment in our nation’s history with decisive action.”
There were also indications of more movement to come. Other moderate freshmen who have shied away from impeachment spent the day furiously calling one another in efforts to calibrate their responses. Several said privately that they were on the brink of supporting an impeachment process, but that they wanted to first see what transpired Thursday.
Privately, some Democrats and their aides were more cautious, fretting that the transcript of the July call would not be as damning as billed. They worried that the anticipation of its disclosure was replicating the dynamic that surrounded the release of the report by Robert S. Mueller III, the former special counsel who investigated Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections, in which Democrats had expected a set of clear-cut revelations that would all but demand Mr. Trump’s impeachment, but ended up instead with a document that did not move public opinion against the president. They cautioned quietly that Democrats needed to see the evidence before getting too far down the impeachment path.
Democrats got some backup in the Senate from Republicans, who have generally split over whether Mr. Trump is obliged to share either the transcript or the whistle-blower complaint with Congress.
“I believe the most helpful report would be a transcript of the president’s conversation with President Zelensky,” Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, the 2012 Republican nominee for president, told reporters. “That, I think, would be the most instructive. But I certainly believe that the whistle-blower report should also be available to Congress.”
Speaking on the Senate floor on Monday afternoon, Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, accused Democrats of trying to exploit a serious issue for political gain. He said he had confidence that the Senate’s intelligence panel, working quietly on a bipartisan basis, would handle it appropriately.
He called it “regrettable” that Representative Adam B. Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman, and Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, “have chosen to politicize this issue, circumventing the established procedures and protocols that exist so the committees can pursue sensitive matters in the appropriate, deliberate, bipartisan manner.”
Questions about Ukraine came to dominate a day at the United Nations that was otherwise packed with meetings with foreign leaders and the president’s foreign policy abroad.
During a meeting with President Andrzej Duda of Poland, Mr. Trump suggested that his main complaint about the American aid to Ukraine — which he temporarily suspended this summer before releasing it last month amid bipartisan pressure from Congress — involved a lack of European assistance to the country. “Why isn’t Europe helping Ukraine more?” Mr. Trump said. “Why is it always the United States?”
The American aid package included about $250 million from the Defense Department and $141 million from the State Department.
In multiple comments to reporters, Mr. Trump sought to deflect attention from his actions and tarnish Mr. Biden, a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.In multiple comments to reporters, Mr. Trump sought to deflect attention from his actions and tarnish Mr. Biden, a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
“What Biden did is a disgrace. What his son did is a disgrace,” Mr. Trump said. He later added, angrily: “If a Republican ever did what Joe Biden did, if a Republican ever said what Joe Biden said, they’d be getting the electric chair right now.” “What Biden did is a disgrace. What his son did is a disgrace,” Mr. Trump said. He later added, “If a Republican ever did what Joe Biden did, if a Republican ever said what Joe Biden said, they’d be getting the electric chair right now.”
Between events at the United Nations complex, Mr. Trump also tweeted an attack against his accusers as “stone cold Crooked.” And he implied that an unnamed intelligence community whistle-blower who filed a secret complaint about his behavior, based in part on his dealings with Ukraine, might be a traitor: “Is he on our Country’s side,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Where does he come from.”
The identity of that whistle-blower, whom Mr. Trump last week accused of being “partisan,” is not publicly known. The acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, is refusing to share the person’s complaint with Congress, as required by law, prompting a growing number of Democrats to consider calling for Mr. Trump’s impeachment.
Mr. Trump also alleged to reporters here, without offering proof, that Hunter Biden, an international business consultant during his father’s time in office, “took money” from China, and suggested that the former vice president would strike a softer line toward Beijing as a result. China, Mr. Trump said, “can think of nothing they’d rather see than Biden get in.”
There is no evidence that the younger Mr. Biden’s business dealings have had any effect on his father’s public policy positions. Mr. Trump has seized on the elder Mr. Biden’s insistence in 2016 that Ukraine fire its top prosecutor at a time when a Ukrainian company on whose board Hunter Biden sat was suspected of criminal activity. But that prosecutor was widely seen as corrupt himself and was not aggressively pursuing a case against the company, Burisma Holdings.
Mr. Trump kicked off his diplomacy here in the morning with a brief visit to a special session on climate change attended by several major world leaders, including Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India. Mr. Trump, who had not been expected to attend, stayed for less than 15 minutes, and wrote on Twitter about the Ukraine scandal minutes after departing.
Mr. Trump then led another special session, on international religious freedom, at which he called upon “nations of the world to end religious persecution.”
“Stop the crimes against people of faith, release prisoners of conscience, repeal laws restricting freedom of religion and belief, protect the vulnerable,” Mr. Trump said. The administration said Monday that the Trump administration would “dedicate an additional $25 million to protect religious freedom and religious sites and relics.”
Mr. Trump was introduced at the event by Vice President Mike Pence, who said being at the session was “among the greatest honors I’ve ever had.” Mr. Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, both evangelical Christians, have emphasized the cause of religious freedom in American foreign policy, drawing criticism that they have favored Christians over other religious groups, including Muslims.
Mr. Trump met in the afternoon with the prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, and pledged to increase trade between the countries. After Mr. Khan denounced India for revoking the autonomy of the disputed border territory of Kashmir, Mr. Trump said he was willing to help mediate the dispute if both Pakistan and India were open to the idea.
Mr. Trump also drew a contrast between Pakistani reporters who asked him several questions with an upbeat tone about their country’s dispute with India over Kashmir.
“I do appreciate the tremendous spirit of the press,” he told Mr. Khan. “I don’t see that with us. Ours always tear our country down. With your press they want to see something positive in the country.”
In his session with Mr. Duda, Mr. Trump signed a defense cooperation agreement between the United States and Poland, but did not explain its contents, saying, “We are going to be cooperating in so many different ways.”
The meetings were the first of more than a dozen sit-downs Mr. Trump had scheduled with world leaders here — including with Mr. Zelensky of Ukraine, whom he will see Wednesday.The meetings were the first of more than a dozen sit-downs Mr. Trump had scheduled with world leaders here — including with Mr. Zelensky of Ukraine, whom he will see Wednesday.
Between events at the United Nations complex, Mr. Trump also tweeted an attack against his accusers as “stone cold Crooked.” And he implied that the unnamed intelligence community whistle-blower might be a traitor: “Is he on our Country’s side,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Where does he come from.”
Without offering proof, Mr. Trump also insisted that Hunter Biden, an international business consultant during his father’s time in office, “took money” from China, and suggested that the former vice president would strike a softer line toward Beijing as a result. China, Mr. Trump said, “can think of nothing they’d rather see than Biden get in.”
There is no evidence that the younger Mr. Biden’s business dealings have had any effect on his father’s public policy positions. Mr. Trump has seized on the elder Mr. Biden’s insistence in 2016 that Ukraine fire its top prosecutor at a time when a Ukrainian company on whose board Hunter Biden sat was suspected of criminal activity. But that prosecutor was widely seen as corrupt himself, and was not aggressively pursuing a case against the company, Burisma Holdings.
Nicholas Fandos reported from Washington and Michael Crowley from New York. Reporting was contributed by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Catie Edmondson and Emily Cochrane from Washington and Jonathan Martin from Los Angeles.