Attorney General William Barr said he does not recall President Trump asking him to hold a press conference clearing him of any wrongdoing during a July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“If you’re talking about press reports that he asked me to have a news conference, the fact is, I don’t remember any such request,” Barr said at an event in Memphis, Tennessee, on Wednesday, according to the Washington Post. “In fact, my recollection is that I told the White House that we would do what we would normally do, and that is issue a press statement, which we did, and that was not an issue.”
The Post reported earlier this month that Trump had requested Barr hold a news conference and state that the president had broken no laws during the July 25 call, which a whistleblower report alleges constituted an abuse of power.
Trump pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate corruption charges against Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, the whistleblower said.
The whistleblower alleged that aid was withheld from Ukraine and used as a bargaining chip in a quid pro quo to dig up political dirt on the Bidens, triggering a formal impeachment inquiry from congressional Democrats.
Trump has described the call as “perfect” and slammed the Post report about Barr as “a con job with an ‘anonymous’ source that doesn’t exist.”
“Just read the Transcript,” Trump said.
Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron has said he stands by the initial story.
