The Wall Street Journal and New York Times are both reporting late Friday that during a July phone call between the two leaders, President Donald Trump repeatedly urged the president of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden's son.
Eight times, to be precise.
Eight times.
Trump, as he always does, denies it.
"It's a ridiculous story. It's a partisan whistle-blower," Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office late Friday, without identifying who the person was or on what facts this statement is based.
"They shouldn't even have information," he continued.
Biden, a former U.S. vice president and current Democratic presidential candidate, has not yet responded to the reports.
From the Wall Street Journal's report:
President Trump in a July phone call repeatedly pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden 's son, urging Volodymyr Zelensky about eight times to work with Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer, on a probe, according to people familiar with the matter.
"He told him that he should work with [Mr. Giuliani] on Biden, and that people in Washington wanted to know" if his lawyer's assertions that Mr. Biden acted improperly as vice president were true, one of the people said. Mr. Trump didn't mention a provision of U.S. aid to Ukraine on the call, said this person, who didn't believe Mr. Trump offered the Ukrainian president any quid-pro-quo for his cooperation on any investigation.
Mr. Giuliani in June and August met with top Ukrainian officials about the prospect of an investigation, he said in an interview. The Trump lawyer has suggested Mr. Biden as vice president worked to shield from investigation a Ukrainian gas company with ties to his son, Hunter Biden. A Ukrainian official earlier this year said he had no evidence of wrongdoing by Mr. Biden or his son.
The White House won't confirm, and Biden's campaign won't respond.
On Friday, Trump defended his July call Ukraine president Zelensky as "totally appropriate."
He would not answer a reporter's question about whether he had asked Zelensky to investigate former vice president Biden.
"It doesn't matter what I discussed," Trump said.
Trump then repeated his demand that Joe Biden be investigated for his purported role in ousting Ukraine's prosecutor general.
"Somebody ought to look into that," Trump told reporters.
This press conference is even more incomprehnsible than @RudyGiuliani last night. He keeps saying he had a "beautiful conversation" with the foreign leader but then says he doesn't even know what conversation is at issue. https://t.co/eP6IGOkx0i
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) September 20, 2019
NYT now confirms: Trump repeatedly pressed his Ukrainian counterpart to talk with Rudy Giuliani, who had been urging the government in Kiev for months to investigate Joe Biden and his family, according to people briefed on the leaders' call.https://t.co/aMLG8NI3Ze
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 20, 2019
July 16, 2018: trump met one-on-one for more than two hours in Helsinki with Vladimir Putin.
431 days later we still don't know what was said.
— Philippe Reines (@PhilippeReines) September 20, 2019
NEW: Don Jr met with Lev Parnas in May. Parnas has been tasked by Giuliani to help with the Ukraine meddling. (h/t @AubreyBelford) pic.twitter.com/BieMz0CcPr
— Forensic News (@forensicnewsnet) September 20, 2019
Biden is so ill-equipped to deal with Trump it's not even funny. https://t.co/3z9zyBpCe9
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) September 20, 2019
Here's the deal: don't fall for the "if there was quid pro quo" trap. If @realDonaldTrump told a foreign government to investigate his opponent that's it. Game. Set. Match. He has committed a crime. If he's innocent, he'll release the tapes. #ReleaseTheTapes
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) September 20, 2019
**Eight times** Trump urged Ukrainian president about eight times to investigate Biden's son during a July phone call that has come under scrutiny in the wake of a whistleblower complaint.
via @AlanCullison @rebeccaballhaus & @dnvolz:https://t.co/Rw7ZAaL7JV— Michael C. Bender (@MichaelCBender) September 20, 2019
On the one hand you have a whistleblower saying Trump pressured Ukraine to interfere in the US election but on the other hand you have Trump's lawyer saying Trump pressured Ukraine to interfere in the US election and I don't know who to believe.
— Seth Masket (@smotus) September 20, 2019
