President Trump on Tuesday said he will release the text of another phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart by the end of the week.
“I will be releasing the transcript of the first, and therefore more important, phone call with the Ukrainian President before week’s end!” the president said in a tweet.
In the April 12 phone call, Trump congratulated newly elected President Volodymyr Zelensky before he took office.
The White House did not release a readout of that conversation when it took place — although it is not expected to contain any bombshells.
The two leaders’ July 25 phone call, in which Trump asked Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, prompted a whistleblower complaint that led Democrats to launch an impeachment inquiry.
The probe centers on whether Trump abused his power by withholding almost $400 million in security aid to put pressure on the US ally.
On Saturday, Trump said he would release the transcript of the April 12 phone call on Tuesday, describing it as “very important.”
He said on Twitter on Monday evening, however, that he would be releasing it “sometime this week,” adding: “I am sure you will find it tantalizing!”
On Tuesday, a day before the first public hearings into the impeachment inquiry, the president also fired off a series of tweets about “Never Trumpers.”
“Why is such a focus put on 2nd and 3rd hand witnesses, many of whom are Never Trumpers, or whose lawyers are Never Trumpers, when all you have to do is read the phone call (transcript) with the Ukrainian President and see first hand?” he wrote.
“He and others also stated that there was ‘no pressure’ put on him to investigate Sleepy Joe Biden even though, as President, I have an ‘obligation’ to look into corruption, and Biden’s actions, on tape, about firing the prosecutor, and his son’s taking millions of dollars, with no knowledge or talent, from a .Ukrainian energy company, and more millions taken from China, and now reports of other companies and countries also giving him big money, are certainly looking very corrupt (to put it mildly!) to me,” he continued.
“Both Bidens should be forced to testify in this No Due Process Scam!” Trump added.