Sources: Trump pressed Ukraine on Biden

In this Sept. 9, 2019, file photo President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
In this Sept. 9, 2019, file photo President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump pressed the leader of Ukraine to investigate the son of former Vice President Joe Biden in a call between the two leaders that is at the center of a whistleblower complaint, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Trump used the July 25 conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to pressure the recently elected leader to more aggressively pursue an investigation that Trump believed would deliver potential political dirt against one of the president's political adversaries, the people said.

One source familiar with the contents of the exchange said that Trump did not raise the issue of American military and intelligence aid that had been pledged to Ukraine, indicating there was not an explicit quid pro quo in that call.

The call is part of a broader set of facts included in the whistleblower complaint that is at the center of a showdown between the executive branch and Congress, with officials in the Trump administration refusing to divulge any information about the substance of an Aug. 12 report to the inspector general of the U.S. intelligence community.

The revelation that Trump pushed Zelenskiy to pursue the Biden investigation, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, represents the most detailed account so far of the president's conduct that prompted a U.S. intelligence official to file a whistleblower action against the president.

The disclosure comes amid new details about the White House's role in preventing Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire from complying with Congressional demands for the material in the complaint.

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White House Counsel Pat Cipollone has been engaged in the matter since shortly after the whistleblower action surfaced, officials said, helping to identify legal obstacles to the sharing of information that could be politically damaging to Trump.

The issue has become a source of tension between the White House and the office of the director of national intelligence, with Maguire forced into the position of fending off lawmakers' demands -- citing jurisdictional objections -- while the White House avoids asserting executive privilege or taking a clear legal position.

Maguire's scheduled testimony in open session before the House Intelligence Committee next week could force the White House's hand. He is expected to face questions about any direction he has taken from the White House.

Even so, the administration has essentially rebuffed the legislative branch, arguing that the whistleblower complaint does not fall under the intelligence director's jurisdiction, because it pertains to communications by someone outside the intelligence community.

Trump on Friday denied that he had engaged in any inappropriate discussions with world leaders but refused to say whether he brought up the Biden investigation on the call with Zelenskiy.

"It doesn't matter what I discussed," Trump said.

Democrats are looking into whether Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani traveled to Ukraine to pressure the government to aid the president's re-election effort by investigating the activities of potential rival Biden's son Hunter, who worked for a Ukrainian gas company.

During an interview late Thursday on CNN, Giuliani was asked whether he had asked Ukraine to look into Biden. Giuliani initially said, "No, actually I didn't," but seconds later he said, "Of course I did."

Giuliani has spent months trying to drum up potentially damaging evidence about Biden's ties to Ukraine. He told CNN that Trump was unaware of his actions.

Later, Giuliani tweeted, "A President telling a Pres-elect of a well known corrupt country he better investigate corruption that affects US is doing his job."

Biden addressed the issue of his son's business dealings in Ukraine on Friday after emerging from a campaign event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "Wait a second," Biden said, raising his hands to silence reporters.

"Not one single credible outlet has given any credibility to these assertions. Not one single one. And so I have no comment except the president should start to, uh, be president."

Biden later issued a statement calling for the release of the transcript of Trump's call with Zelenskiy and saying, "If these reports are true, then there is truly no bottom to President Trump's willingness to abuse his power and abase our country. This behavior is particularly abhorrent because it exploits the foreign policy of our country and undermines our national security for political purposes."

Information for this article was contributed by Matt Zapotosky, Greg Miller, Ellen Nakashima, Carol D. Leonnig, Holly Bailey, Philip Rucker, Mike DeBonis, Julie Tate and Shane Harris of The Washington Post; and by Jonathan Lemire, Mary Clare Jalonick, Lisa Mascaro, Deb Riechmann, Mike Balsamo, Eric Tucker, Alan Fram and Zeke Miller of The Associated Press.

A Section on 09/21/2019

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