CNN political correspondent Dana Bash buried her face in her hands as network anchor John King read off parts of President Trump’s first phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The White House released the transcript of the phone call, which took place on April 21, three months before the phone call between them, was released on Friday morning. The release of it coincided with the second day of public impeachment hearings in front of the House Intelligence Committee.
At one point in the conversation, Trump told Zelensky, “I agree with you about your country, and I look forward to it. When I owned Miss Universe, they always had great people. Ukraine was always very well represented. When you’re settled in and ready, I’d like to invite you to the White House. We’ll have a lot of things to talk about, but we’re with you all the way.”
Zelensky then thanked the president for his invitation but didn’t address the Miss Universe comment directly.
King read this part of the speech on the network aloud during the intermission of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch’s testimony in front of the House Intelligence Committee.
As he did, which he described as “priceless words,” Bash put her face in her hands and grunted aloud, leaving the other panelists speechless.
In addition to being two of the network’s top reporters, King and Bash were married from 2007 to 2012 and share one child together, son Jonah Frank, 8.
