READ: White House Releases Its Version Of Call Between Trump and Ukraine President | Talking Points Memo

discobot · September 25, 2019, 2:06pm

The White House released its version of a July 25 call between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1251175

26degreesrising · September 25, 2019, 2:09pm

Surreal.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/transcript-of-trumps-call-with-ukrainian-president-shows-him-offering-us-assistance-for-biden-investigation/2019/09/25/16aa36ca-df0f-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html

john819 · September 25, 2019, 2:10pm

Mob talk, pure and simple.

“I’d like to have you do me a favor. It would be a shame if you had a problem with your business.”

darksol · September 25, 2019, 2:10pm

Not good enough to release their “notes”. I want unredacted and unsanitized, period. And a copy of the audio.

skeptical · September 25, 2019, 2:12pm

chlarry · September 25, 2019, 2:12pm

What a joke.
Ok, so during the impeachment hearings,they are going to have to hand over the original recording of the call. Will there be missing minutes or will they try to doctor it to make a fake version sound like the original?

thecaptain · September 25, 2019, 2:13pm

Dem messaging needs to get on this right from the start and make sure it’s not the Barr letter 2.0

lizzymom · September 25, 2019, 2:13pm

WaPo headline:

Um…I believe this is called “gotcha”???

ralph_vonholst · September 25, 2019, 2:15pm

Very nice. But it’s not a transcript and there are no recordings.

Thread.

nemo · September 25, 2019, 2:15pm

This isn’t readable, because it won’t scroll down. But note the date: yesterday. This document was cooked up. It’s not even the notes that were taken of the meeting, which themselves are not transcriptive. It’s a version of a version.

So we need to see:

Original complaint
Original Situation Room notes of meeting.

And we need to compare the versions.

I also see that DOJ prosecutors purport to have determined that trading US foreign aid assistance for electoral interference is not criminal. Barr must be impeached for obstruction of Congress and violation of his oath of office for that act alone. Get him out of the White House or we’re sunk. Never mind if the impeachment doesn’t go anywhere. But note: he’s telling Zelensky to work with Barr. Barr is implicated in the criminal conspiracy. He should be impeached for that. This is a huge fucking bombshell.

Get all DOJ personnel involved in the adjudication of non-criminality to give evidence about it. Put their careers and law licenses on the line.

enhancedthespian · September 25, 2019, 2:17pm

This is not a transcript. This is damage control.

paulw · September 25, 2019, 2:17pm

I bet he thinks that exonerates him. Barr has also got some explaining to do.

And this is the redacted version that doesn’t have the embarrassing stuff. (And two intelligence people went to DoJ about it, and DoJ did nothing when the attorney general was (again) implicated. That really looks good.)

erik_t · September 25, 2019, 2:18pm

As Ben Wittes pointed out the other day, once upon a time we feared that the Russians might have some sort of compromising information on the President. Now we know for a fact that at least the Ukrainians do.

Wild times!

ldcolton · September 25, 2019, 2:18pm

This is the version they chose to release?

Buckle up.

josephebacon · September 25, 2019, 2:18pm

What???

No 18 minute gap???

sysprog · September 25, 2019, 2:18pm

I guess this is what happens when you ‘think’ you are the smartest one in the room and you’re really dumber than whale spit.

musgrove · September 25, 2019, 2:18pm

Well this did nothing but toss Barr into the fire even more. So why did the acting DNI director ask Barr to take a look at the whistle blower complaint when Barr is involved in the misconduct that the complaint is about.

floydmaster · September 25, 2019, 2:19pm

(S/iQl’,. President Zelenskyy: Well yes, to tell you the truth, we
are trying to work hard because we wanted to drain the swamp
here in our country. We brought in many many new people. Not the
old politicians, not the typical politicians, because we want to
have a new format and a new type of government … You are a great
teacher for us and in that.

(3/H!i, The President: Well it 1 s·very nice of you .to say that. I
will say that we do ·a lot for Ukraine. We spend a lot . of effort
and a lot.of time. Much more than the European countries are
·'doing and they should be helping.you more than.they are. Germany
does almost nothing for you. All they do is talk and I think
it’s something that you should ·really ask them about. When I.was·
·speaking to Angela Merkel she talks Ukraine, but she ·doesn’t do·
anything. A lot of the European countries are the. same way· so I
think it’s.something you want to look at but the United States
has been very ·very good to Ukraine. I wouldn’t say that it’s
reciprocal necessarily because things are happening that are not
good but the United States has been very very good to Ukraine.

I’d say there’s a solid 75% chance this document was heavily doctored and outright made up.

ralph_vonholst · September 25, 2019, 2:19pm

Meanwhile when you weren’t looking. Oh, Barr Barr Jinks has been a busy little rolly polly boy.

Interfering with NY State subpoena.

c_stedman · September 25, 2019, 2:20pm

I guess that’s why Barr got involved in the cover up of the WB complaint. I hope they impeach him immediately, if not sooner.