Trump news: President gives rambling speech at UN after Ukraine call memo released, as Senate receives whistleblower complaint
Document shows president asked Ukrainian leader to talk to Giuliani about investigation
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump’s tumultuous day began with the release of a memo describing a phone call which could end his presidency, and ended with a weary rambling speech characterised by boasts, false claims and self pity.
If the president thought releasing the partial transcript would silence his critics, as he seemed to hope, he could not have been more wrong.
While his supporters claimed the memo exonerated him, his opponents insisted that it was even more damning than they had feared.
The call showed him asking his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate Joe Biden, who could face Mr Trump in next year’s presidential election, immediately after discussing the military aid Kiev needs to protect itself against a Russian-backed insurgency.
They also talked disparagingly about the former US ambassador to Ukraine who was recalled after apparently falling foul of the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Mr Trump apparently told the Ukrainian president: “Well, she’s going to go through some things.”
After appearing at an awkward media conference with the Ukrainian president himself on the edges of the UN general assembly, Mr Trump addressed the press himself.
In a low-energy performance, he insisted that the accusations against him were a Democrat “hoax” timed to embarrass him in front of the world’s leaders, boasted about his accomplishments, accused Mr Biden and his son of being corrupt and assured a Venezuelan journalist that he was watching developments in her country closely.
Updates below...
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Donald Trump has released the following statement ahead of his press conference at the United Nations -
BREAKING: Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr said he has received the hand-delivered whistle-blower complaint and begun to read it.
Donald Trump has taken to the podium along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
He has begun by addressing his bilateral meetings with the United Nations, saying, "I think we set a new record" of meetings with world leaders.
Donald Trump is touting home ownership rates and the price of oil during his press conference after listing all of the countries he met with at the United Nations.
He is now calling out the whistle-blower behind the Ukraine complaint, saying that anonymous individual did not have "first class" intelligence.
He says he has informed "transparency on the so-called whistle-blower information".
Donald Trump is now repeating the statement he put out in a tweet just before the press conference -
“He wants to end corruption and I think that’s great,” the president said about Volodymyr Zelensky.
“I didn’t do it, I didn’t threaten anybody,” he added. "It's all a hoax, folks. It's all a hoax."
He is now complaining that the press has not covered his meetings, saying "I have been up early" and "late in the evening".
“They’re too busy wasting their time on the witch hunt,” the president said, attacking Democrats over his Ukrainian scandal.
He seems sombre and at times frustrated with the news about his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Donald Trump is now talking about American wages, which is quite bizarre during a press conference at the conclusion of the United Nations.
The president has been complaining in this conference that the media has not covered his meetings with foreign leaders, though he is talking almost exclusively about domestic issues when he is not slamming the Democratic Party and media over its coverage of his impeachment.
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