The White House sent, then attempted to “recall,” talking points on a transcript of President Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Democratic lawmakers.
The errant email turned over at least part of the White House’s strategy to combating Democratic charges of trying to use a foreign government to influence U.S. elections. Democrats that received the memo quickly made it public on Twitter.
The trump White House just accidentally sent our office their talking points for deflecting trump’s treachery. They’re complete Orwellian lies and toxic trash, but maybe you’d like to read them to appreciate their corruption! Hazmat ☢️ suit possibly required. pic.twitter.com/twcYGkcO7h
— Bill Pascrell, Jr. (@BillPascrell) September 25, 2019
Several GOP lawmakers met at the White House to review the transcript and plan the GOP response before the transcript’s release, according to Axios. It is unclear whether the talking points are the result of the meeting.
The talking points start off by listing several “myths” from Democrats and media reports about the Trump-Zelensky call, such as the existence of a quid pro quo deal between the leaders. The memo then defended the contents of the phone call as “entirely proper.”
“The President did not mention Rudy Giuliani or Vice President Biden until after President Zelensky had raised Giuliani first,” the talking points memo says.
The memo targets Democrats and members of the media for ignoring the “real scandal” that “leaks about a second-hand account of the President’s confidential telephone call with a foreign leader triggered a media frenzy of false accusations.”
The paper defends the Trump administration’s decision to release the report and its handling of the whistleblower complaint that kicked off the firestorm this week that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has used to push impeachment proceedings against Trump.
