White House releases rough transcript of first Trump-Zelenskiy call

The White House on Friday released a summary of an April 21 phone call in which President Donald Trump congratulated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on his election win.

A separate call between the two leaders on July 25 sparked the impeachment inquiry. Democrats have said Trump abused the power of his office by pressing Zelenskiy to investigate a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.

They have also accused him of withholding aid to Ukraine to pressure Zelenskiy into launching an investigation. Trump has denied the accusation.

Trump, in the April call, invited Zelenskiy to the White House.

“We’ll have a lot of things to talk about, but we’re with you all the way,” he said according to the memo.

The White House made the record of the conversation public at the start of Friday’s House impeachment hearing.

Congressman Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, read the document aloud to suggest that there was nothing untoward in the conversation.

Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, the committee chairman, said Trump should also “release the thousands of other records that he has instructed the State Department not to release.”