President Trump congratulated Volodymyr Zelensky on his election win in Ukraine, inviting him to the White House in their first phone call, according to a transcript released by the White House Friday morning.
The April 21 conversation occurred three months ahead of another call with the Ukrainian president that is central to House Democrats’ impeachment proceedings.
Publication of the summary coincided with the second day of public impeachment hearings, and the text was immediately read aloud by Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, who claimed it showed nothing untoward happened.
In the transcript, Trump congratulates Zelensky on his election and says his time owning Miss Universe gave him an appreciation of Ukraine.
“When you’re settled in and ready, I’d like to invite you to the White House,” Trump said, per the transcript. “We’ll have a lot of things to talk about, but we’re with you all the way.”
A readout released at the time also said President Trump “underscored the unwavering support of the United States for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity—within its internationally recognized borders and expressed his commitment to work together with President-elect Zelensky and the Ukrainian people to implement reforms that strengthen democracy, increase prosperity, and root out corruption.”
Trump’s commitment to tackling corruption in Ukraine has emerged as a key line of defense in the impeachment inquiry. However, such sentiments were missing from the summary transcript released on Friday.
A separate call on July 25 initiated a whistleblower complaint and the impeachment investigation.
Trump repeatedly said Democrats wanted details of the April 21 call, but its release at 9 am as impeachment hearings resumed with the testimony of a key witness will lead to suspicion it is designed to divert attention. It came just as former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was due to describe the circumstances of her removal from the post.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee chairman, called on Trump to also “release the thousands of other records that he has instructed the State Department not to release.”
