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The House Judiciary Committee members (left to right) Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO), Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), and Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) read the transcript of President Trump's call with Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky on September 25, 2019.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Trump-Ukraine "transcript," explained

This really looks similar evidence of a damning quid pro quo.

By Sep 25, 2019, 1:27pm EDT

Wednesday morn the White Firm released an edited summary of President Donald Trump's call with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25, the call that appears to have inspired the at present-famous whistleblower complaint against Trump. The document, which reads like a transcript, was widely expected to cast the president's beliefs in a more than flattering light.

It did not. If anything, it's more testify for the worst-case scenario: That President Trump was conditioning military help to Ukraine on the land's willingness to investigate his domestic political enemies.

The Business firm Judiciary Committee members were given copies of the transcript of President Trump's phone call with President Volodymr Zelensky on September 25, 2019.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

In the summary, Zelensky asks Trump for an increase in military aid — specifically, to purchase more Javelin anti-tank missiles, useful in Ukraine's ongoing disharmonize with Russian-backed separatists in its eastward.

Trump responds by proverb, "I would similar you to do us a favor though."

The favor turns out to exist about two investigations Trump would like Ukraine to conduct: 1 about a bizarre and unfounded theory well-nigh Ukrainian possession of a Autonomous email server, the other most the Biden family unit'southward allegedly decadent dealings with a Ukrainian prosecutor.

We previously knew that the president had asked Ukraine to investigate the Bidens considering both the president and his chaser, Rudy Giuliani, admitted information technology. We now know that he also asked Ukraine to investigate the Democratic Party and that he connected it to the question of armed services aid in their conversation.

That'due south not the entirety of what'due south bad for Trump in the transcript — there'south concerning stuff about Chaser General William Barr as well. But the tiptop-line takeaway is that the White House's summary is annihilation but exculpatory.

If Democrats were looking for more fuel for their impeachment fire, they appear to take found information technology.

The biggest takeaway from the summary: it certain looks like a quid pro quo

It's of import to annotation, at the outset, that this telephone call summary is not quite a verbatim transcript of what Trump and Zelensky said. Information technology's written like a transcript, with direct quotations assigned to each leader, merely it is not an authoritative transcription of an audio recording — as a note on the first page makes clear.

"The text in this document records the notes and recollections of Situation Room Duty Officers and NSC policy staff assigned to listen and memorialize the chat in written form every bit the conversation takes place," it explains. "A number of factors can bear on the accuracy of the tape, including poor telecommunications connections and variations in accent and/or interpretation."

So there are likely some errors and omissions, and there is at least one pretty notable unclarity in the document I'll point out later on. Simply information technology'southward worth treating the parts that are written down equally, for now, roughly accurate quotations of both Trump and Zelensky.

Ukraine'south President Volodymyr Zelensky (right) at the headquarters of the Un on September 25, 2019.

Valery Sharifulin/TASS/Getty Images

The context for the telephone call is important too. According to a Washington Post written report, a week earlier phoning Zelensky, who had merely assumed function, Trump ordered primary of staff Mick Mulvaney to append $400 million worth of US war machine help to Ukraine (the assist was unlocked in September). Then yous have a new leader of a country locked in conflict with much more powerful Russia speaking to one of its principal international benefactors, which has recently suspended military aid.

After a few pleasantries early on in the call, Trump brings up this military aid unprompted. He goes out of his way to compare US assistance to EU aid to Ukraine. "I volition say that we do a lot for Ukraine. Nosotros spend a lot of effort and a lot of time," he tells Zelensky. "Much more than the European countries are doing and they should be helping you more than than they are."

Zelensky agrees, telling Trump "the The states is a much bigger partner than the European union and I'chiliad very grateful to yous for that." This is true, at least when it comes to military machine aid — which means Trump really does have leverage here.

The Ukrainian leader then makes a request for the The states to increase its military assistance, specifically by selling his country more than Javelin anti-tank missiles. This is the pivot signal in the summary, so I'thou going to quote it in context:

ZELENSKY: I would too like to thank you for your cracking support in the area of defence. We. are set to go on to cooperate for the adjacent steps. Specifically, we are almost. ready to buy more Javelins from the United· States for defense force purposes.

TRUMP: I would like you to do united states a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot nigh information technology. I would like you to notice out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike ... I guess yous take one of your weal thy people. ... The server, they say Ukraine has it.

The word "though" in Trump's line makes it articulate what'southward going on hither, explicitly connecting the request for aid to Trump'south request for "a favor" afterward Trump initiated a conversation virtually how important Usa aid is for Ukraine. And that favor is investigating "the server."

President Trump attends a multilateral meeting on Venezuela on the sidelines of the United nations General Assembly, in New York, on September 25, 2019.

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Now, you lot might be tempted to think that Trump is request about Hillary Clinton'south email server. Just Trump references CrowdStrike, a California-based cybersecurity house, which suggests he'due south talking almost something different. CrowdStrike was the company that linked Russia to the hack of the Democratic National Committee back in 2016. Trump seems to be floating a conspiracy theory, promulgated by his attorney Rudy Giuliani, that it was actually Ukraine that hacked the Democrats — and so tried to frame Trump and Russian federation for information technology.

This contravenes every piece of testify we have on the DNC hack, including the unanimous assessment of US intelligence agencies that Russia was responsible for it and an indictment from Mueller's team spelling out exactly how it happened. Trump too seems fundamentally confused about how hacking works: the hackers got access to DNC emails, but did not accept the server itself.

But Trump seems to be request Zelensky to investigate the DNC emails anyhow, presumably because it would make him look good politically and let him to suggest the Democrats were office of a conspiracy that'southward out to get him.

That's non the total extent of Trump'southward "favor." He also asks Zelensky to look into Hunter Biden's business concern dealings with a Ukrainian company, besides equally totally unsubstantiated allegations that Joe Biden was corruptly working to shield his son from prosecution:

The other thing, in that location's a lot of talk nigh Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to detect out well-nigh that so any y'all tin can practise with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution and so if yous tin wait into it ... It sounds horrible to me.

The situation stems from Hunter Biden's work with Burisma Holdings, a company endemic by a controversial and possibly corrupt Ukrainian oligarch. The accusation is that Joe Biden attempted to go the Ukrainian prosecutor general fired in society to protect Burisma and his son from investigation. There is, still, no reason to believe this. Joe Biden did attempt to get the prosecutor general fired, but that was the result of the prosecutor'southward own involvement in corruption; there is no prove he was investigating Burisma at the time. Hunter Biden's dealings with Burisma were arguably unethical, but at that place is no reason to believe that they were illegal or that his father did anything wrong.

We already knew that Trump had requested Zelensky to investigate this phantom Biden conspiracy. But in context of the transcript, his use of the phrase "the other thing" makes it part of the same "favor" equally investigating the server hack. It'southward all role of the same request, the one that Trump has seemed to link to US armed services assistance to Ukraine — which he had conveniently suspended merely ane week prior to the call.

Taken in context, what we accept hither nigh clearly reads as a quid pro quo, with Trump offering policy favors if Zelensky helps him politically.

Leading up to the readout'southward release, the situation looked bad for Trump, with the president openly admitting prior to its publication that he tried to get a foreign leader to investigate i of his leading political opponents, potentially compromising the integrity of the 2020 ballot. Now information technology seems similar he wasn't just requesting Zelensky investigate Biden; information technology looks similar he was unsubtly trying to stiff-arm him into doing information technology past leveraging The states military machine assistance.

Some other large reason this phone call is a bad wait — and how it could become worse

While the evidence of the quid pro quo is the main takeaway from the call summary, it's hardly the just troubling part of the document.

About the end, when discussing the situation involving Biden and a Ukrainian prosecutor, Trump tells Zelensky to expect calls both from Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer, and United states of america Attorney General William Barr:

I will accept Mr. Giuliani give you a phone call and I am likewise going to have Chaser General Barr call and we will get to· the bottom of it. I'm sure you lot will effigy it out. I heard the prosecutor was treated very badly and he was a very fair prosecutor so good luck with everything.

The Giuliani part is corrupt but no surprise: We've known that Giuliani was running a kind of shadow Ukraine policy aimed at securing Ukrainian assistance in Trump's reelection bid. The actually center-popping element here is the reference to Chaser Full general Barr.

The attorney general is supposed to exist the master law enforcement officer of the United States, accountable to the president only not his personal lawyer. They are at once a member of the administration and a check on it.

Attorney General William Barr spends his second twenty-four hours on Capitol Hill speaking with congressional members about gun legislation on September eighteen, 2019.

Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images

Barr has proven himself to have difficulty with this dual function — most notably, when he repeatedly attempted to spin the Mueller study's findings in the president'southward favor before its release, misleading the American public about its findings. This telephone call suggests that Barr may too be involved in Trump's scheme for abusing his powers of function for political proceeds. If so, that would be a major new scandal in its own correct.

The telephone call'southward references to Barr are relatively cursory; nosotros don't really know the extent of his involvement in this situation. Just there are already calls for Barr to recuse himself from whatever interest in investigating Trump's conduct, and Democrats are all but certain to investigate the full extent of Barr'southward role in all of this.

This isn't the only tantalizingly unclear point in the White House summary. Remember, this is an edited account and not a verbatim transcription — which means it's possible the White House omitted some passages that are even more than devastating to the president.

For example, expect at one of the crucial lines from the section about Biden: "Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution and then if you can wait into information technology ... It sounds horrible to me." Those ellipses are the White House's, not mine. It's possible they announce a intermission; information technology's equally possible they announce that Trump said something in between those two sentences that the White House would rather not reveal.

The indicate, and then, is that we're simply at the beginning stages of understanding what was happening hither. If the show is already this bad, it'due south possible it could get worse. With Democrats pursuing an impeachment enquiry over Ukraine that spans half dozen unlike House committees, each with subpoena power, more facts could well come out.

Only the biggest takeaway here is that in some means, we don't really need more than facts. We already know that the president'south behavior, in this instance, is deeply inappropriate and corrupt.

President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence confer during the United nations Climate Action Height, on September 23, 2019.

Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images

Nosotros know that the president asked for investigations into his political opponents and politically helpful conspiracy theories, essentially calling for a foreign power to interfere with the comport of the 2020 election. We know that there he at least strongly implied that he would be conditioning an important policy decision on Ukraine's compliance hither, suggesting that he's willing to abuse his powers of office for political advantage.

I've said information technology earlier, and I'll say information technology again: If this isn't impeachable, I don't know what is.

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Source: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/9/25/20883420/full-transcript-trump-ukraine-zelensky-white-house

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