Trump says he will release second ‘very important’ Ukraine call transcript

‘We have another transcript coming out which is very important’

Donald Trump has said he plans to release the transcript of a second phone call with Ukraine’s leader as early as next week, as Democrats stepped up their impeachment pressure on the president.

In a move he presumably hopes will support his case that there was nothing untoward with his interactions with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Trump told reporters he would make public details of a call the two had in April.

“We have another transcript coming out which is very important,” Mr Trump said, while boarding Air Force One for a visit to Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

“I will give you a second transcript, because I had two calls with the president of Ukraine.”

He added: “They want to have a transcript of the other call, the second call, and I’m willing to provide that.”

For the best part of two months, Washington has been gripped by the details of a July 25 phone conversation Mr Trump had with the recently elected Mr Zelensky.

According to a whistleblower complaint made by someone believed to me a member of the US intelligence community, during the call, Mr Trump sought a “quid pro quo” from Kiev in exchange for the release of $400m in military assistance and a visit to DC.

The whistleblower said the quid pro quo was an investigation into Mr Trump’s political rival, Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter. Republicans have long alleged the former vice president misused his position to have ousted a prosecutor tasked with taking on corruption.

Mr Trump has denied doing anything wrong, and said his phone conversation with Mr Zelensky was “beautiful”.

Yet the allegations levelled by the whistleblower were sufficient for Democrats to move ahead with a formal impeachment investigation. In the weeks since the whistleblower complaint was made public, members of the House of Representatives have been hearing closed-door testimony from officials and diplomats connected to either the call, or else US policy towards Ukraine.

A startling image has emerged of a “private” outreach undertaken by Mr Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, that sought to pressure Kiev to launch the probe into Mr Biden and his son.

This coming week, Capitol Hill will hear public testimony from its first three witnesses, in a development that intensifies pressure for Mr Trump and Republicans. While Mr Trump has acknowledged Democrats have sufficient numbers in the House to formally censure him, he is hopeful Republicans in the Senate – where a two-thirds majority vote would be required to convict him – will come to his defence and allow him to campaign for a second term.

The president has several times mentioned he was willing to make public a transcript, or at least a redacted memo, of the earlier call he had with Mr Zelensky.

He said on Friday: “I had a second call with the president which actually, I believe, came before this one, and now they all want that one. And if they want it, I’ll give it to them. I haven’t seen it recently, but I’ll give it to them.”

As it is, that second transcript looks set to be released a day before Democrats have their first pubic hearing.

Mr Trump’s comments came as it was reported he had made a request to the former president of Ukraine to announce an investigation Mr Biden, in exchange for a state visit to Washington.

The Wall Street Journal said Edward MacMahon, a lawyer for one of two associates of Mr Giuliani who were arrested last month on campaign finance charges, said the men had made the request to Ukraine’s former leader, Petro Poroshenko, in February of this year.

He said the two men, Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas, the latter of whom is his client, had been acting at the behest of Mr Giuliani, who in turn was carrying out the orders of Mr Trump.