A combative President Trump said Wednesday the released transcript of his phone call with Ukraine’s president proves it wasn’t “the call from hell” alleged by his critics.
“There was no pressure,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the United Nations. “The way you had that built up, that call, it was going to be the call from hell. It turned out to be a nothing call.”
A transcript released by the Justice Department Wednesday of the July 25 call shows Mr. Trump asking Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky for a “favor” of investigating possible corruption involving Democratic frontrunner Joseph R. Biden’s son, Hunter, and his lucrative post with a Ukrainian gas company.
While Mr. Trump reminded the Ukrainian leader that the U.S. has helped Ukraine more than its European neighbors, he does not link his request specifically to $391 million in U.S. military aid. At the time of the call, the administration was withholding that aid.
Mr. Trump said of Democrats’ impeachment inquiry based partly on the matter, “It’s the single greatest witch hunt in American history.”
Mr. Trump slammed “corrupt” reporters, including the one who asked him about the call.
The president also noted that the stock market “went up very substantially” after the transcript came out, he said.
“We have the strongest country we’ve ever had,” he said.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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