Trump Pledges to Release Transcript of Ukraine Call Wednesday

WASHINGTON (CN) – After days of speculation about the contents of a secretive whistleblower complaint reportedly involving a phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump said a transcript of the call will be released Wednesday.

“I am currently at the United Nations representing our Country, but have authorized the release tomorrow of the complete, fully declassified and unredacted transcript of my phone conversation with President Zelensky of Ukraine,” Trump tweeted Tuesday. “You will see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call. No pressure and, unlike Joe Biden and his son, NO quid pro quo! This is nothing more than a continuation of the Greatest and most Destructive Witch Hunt of all time!”

Trump continues to deny reports that he pressured Ukraine into investigating the son of his potential 2020 election opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden.

The president allegedly pressured Zelensky eight separate times during the July phone call to investigate alleged misconduct of Hunter Biden regarding work he did for a Ukrainian energy company. However, a Ukrainian official earlier this year said there was no evidence of wrongdoing by former vice president or his son.

The call is reportedly at the heart of the fight over a secretive intelligence community whistleblower complaint that has exploded into public view in the past week.

On Monday, The Washington Post reported that Trump had directed Mick Mulvaney, the president’s acting chief of staff, to delay $400 million of U.S. military aid to Ukraine days before the phone call. Trump admitted he directed staff to withhold the aid Tuesday, saying he wanted other countries to contribute to funding the defense before the United States did.

“So I said hold it up. Let's get other people to pay,” Trump told reporters at the United Nations on Tuesday.

The Trump administration has yet to release the full contents of the whistleblower complaint, claiming executive privilege over its contents.

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., tweeted Tuesday that testimony from the whistleblower could take place “as soon as this week.”

“We have been informed by the whistleblower’s counsel that their client would like to speak to our committee and has requested guidance from the Acting DNI as to how to do so,” Schiff said, referring to the director of national intelligence.

Schiff told reporters last week that executive privilege to suppress the complaint’s contents did not exist.

“There is no privilege that covers that, there is no privilege to conceal that. There’s not privilege to be corrupt,” he said.

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