E-Paper
Summary of Trump’s first call to Ukrainian president released, varies from the earlier read out
There is no mention of “corruption” in the 16-minute-call summary, which was mentioned in the read out released earlier.
The White House released a summary of United States President Donald Trump’s first phone call to his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, and it differs from a readout that was released earlier.
Trump had been promising to release the transcript of his April 21 conversation with the Ukrainian President and it was finally done on the second day of the impeachment proceedings against the US president.
There is no mention of “corruption” in the 16-minute-call summary, which was mentioned in the read out released earlier. The read out had then said Trump had underscored unwavering US support to Ukraine “to implement reforms that strengthen democracy, increase prosperity, and root out corruption”.
The summary shows that Trump had, however, brought up a completely different subject to show his support. “When I owned Miss Universe (the pageant), they always had great people,” he said, adding, “Ukraine was always very well represented.” Trump owned the beauty pageant franchise from 1996 to 2015.
This call took place on April 21 when Trump called to congratulate Zelensky on his election victory that day. Three months after, Trump and Zelensky spoke again, and this time, Trump pressed the Ukrainian leader to investigate former Vice-President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. This second call is at the heart of the impeachment inquiry of President Trump that is currently underway.
