Key developments in the burgeoning controversy over President Trump’s phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky are expected to play out Wednesday in Washington and New York, with the release of a rough call transcript Wednesday morning and a scheduled meeting between Trump and Zelensky on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in the afternoon.
The July 25 call has been the subject of intense scrutiny since The Washington Post reported last week that a whistleblower had come forward with concerns about the matter. It has ignited an impeachment drive in the House, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announcing Tuesday the launch of a formal inquiry and accusing Trump of violating the Constitution in seeking help from a foreign leader to damage a political opponent.
Trump has acknowledged publicly that he asked Zelensky to investigate former vice president Joe Biden’s son, who served on the board of a Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company that came under scrutiny by authorities there.
Trump has denied doing anything improper, but lawmakers have raised concerns about his directive to freeze nearly $400 million in military assistance for Ukraine in the days leading up the phone call with Zelensky.
[Why now? The moments that moved Pelosi and House Democrats toward impeachment.]
9:30 a.m.: Number of House members supporting impeachment inquiry swells to 200
The number of House members who say they support at least opening an impeachment inquiry into Trump has swelled to 200, a figure that includes 199 Democrats and Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.), a former Republican who recently left the party, according to an updated Washington Post tally.
In just the past two days, the number has grown by 60, with many members tying their decisions to Trump’s call with Zelensky.
Twenty-two of the 24 Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over the impeachment inquiry, have expressed public support for the move.
Read more here.
9:15 a.m.: House to vote Wednesday afternoon to condemn administration for withholding whistleblower complaint
The House plans to vote Wednesday afternoon on a resolution condemning the administration’s efforts to block the release of the whistleblower complaint alleging that Trump’s promise to a foreign leader constituted an “urgent concern” to national security.
Acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire has refused to share the complaint from a U.S. intelligence official in what Democrats say is a clear violation of the law.
Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community, reviewed the complaint and determined that it was credible and troubling enough to be considered a matter of “urgent concern,” a legal threshold that requires notification of congressional oversight committees.
“We hope that all Members of the House — Democrats and Republicans alike — will join in upholding the rule of law and oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution as Representatives of the American people,” Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said in a joint statement.
In a rare, albeit subtle protest from the GOP-led Senate, lawmakers adopted a resolution on Tuesday calling for the White House to turn over the complaint to the intelligence committees, as is required under law.
8:30 a.m.: Giuliani says the rough call transcript was read to him
Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, said Wednesday morning that the rough call transcript had been read to him, an acknowledgment that prompted protests from Democratic members of Congress who had yet to review the document.
During an appearance on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends” in which he defended Trump and attacked Biden, Giuliani was asked if he had seen the rough call transcript.
“Let’s say it was read to me,” he replied.
“The whole thing?” asked co-host Brian Kilmeade.
“I hope,” Giuliani replied.
Democrats, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), argued that Giuliani, who doesn’t hold a government position, should not have had an opportunity to review the transcript before they did.
[The rough transcript of Trump’s Ukrainian call: There are likely no tapes — but plenty of witnesses]
8:15 a.m.: Schiff raises concerns about the validity of what will be released
Ahead of the expected release of a rough call transcript, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) raised concerns about whether it would provide a full picture of what transpired between Trump and Zelensky.
“We won’t know whether what we get from the White House is the complete story in terms of that conversation,” Schiff said during an interview on CNN. “We certainly know we can’t rely on the White House to be forthcoming.”
Schiff said Democrats are concerned that “whatever they release today may not be the full content of that conversation.”
“If there’s anything we know from the Mueller investigation, it’s that this president will go to extraordinary lengths to obstruct an investigation into his misconduct,” he added, referring to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
Asked to elaborate on his concerns, Schiff said it is unclear that “if it is in fact a transcript, that is someone taking word-by-word notes of what was said, like a stenographer, or whether there was a recording of the conversation that can be transcribed or whether instead this is one of the president’s staff or someone else from the [National Security Council] or someone else from the State Department sitting in on the call and writing only that which would not thoroughly embarrass the president.”
He said House Democrats investigating Trump’s conduct want to talk to the note-taker.
7:25 a.m.: Trump complains again about Democrats ‘frozen with hatred and fear’
Trump went on Twitter early Wednesday to complain about continued Democratic scrutiny of his actions.
“There has been no President in the history of our Country who has been treated so badly as I have,” he wrote. “The Democrats are frozen with hatred and fear. They get nothing done. This should never be allowed to happen to another President. Witch Hunt!”
Trump’s salvo followed several tweets on Tuesday night in which he shared video clips of friendly commentators arguing that he is being treated unfairly.
6:40 a.m.: New poll shows limited support for impeachment
Amid a groundswell of support for impeachment proceedings among House Democrats, a new poll finds a majority of Americans do not favor ousting Trump from office.
Thirty-seven percent of voters say that Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 57 percent say he should not be impeached, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday morning.
The poll was conducted from Thursday through Monday, as details were emerging about Trump’s call with Zelensky.
The poll shows a stark partisan divide on the question of impeachment. Among Democrats, 73 percent support impeachment, while 21 percent are opposed. Among Republicans, only 4 percent support impeachment, while 95 percent are opposed.
Read more here.
5 a.m.: Trump’s meeting with Zelensky is a high-wire act for both leaders
Trump meets with Zelensky on Wednesday afternoon as he seeks to dispel concerns about his decision to temporarily hold nearly $400 million of military aid from the embattled country.
The meeting, scheduled at 2:15 p.m., is a high-wire act for both leaders as Zelensky tries to avoid angering the U.S. president or his Democratic opponents while Trump tries to disarm allegations that have generated a formal impeachment inquiry by the Democrat-controlled House.
At issue is the July phone call between Trump and Zelensky in which Trump is said to have brought up investigating former vice president Biden, a potential 2020 presidential opponent, and his son. Days before the phone call, Trump ordered a hold on the aid for Ukraine, which has been fending off Russian-backed separatists in the country’s east.
Read more here.
5 a.m.: Giuliani pursued shadow Ukraine agenda as key foreign policy officials were sidelined
Trump’s attempt to pressure the leader of Ukraine followed a months-long fight inside the administration that sidelined national security officials and empowered political loyalists — including the president’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani — to exploit the U.S. relationship with Kiev, current and former U.S. officials said.
The sequence, which began early this year, involved the abrupt removal of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, the circumvention of senior officials on the National Security Council, and the suspension of hundreds of millions of dollars of aid administered by the Defense and State departments — all as key officials from these agencies struggled to piece together Giuliani’s activities from news reports.
Several officials described tense meetings on Ukraine among national security officials at the White House leading up to the president’s phone call on July 25, sessions that led some participants to fear that Trump and those close to him appeared prepared to use U.S. leverage with the new leader of Ukraine for Trump’s political gain.
Read more here.
Devlin Barrett, Matt Zapotosky and John Hudson contributed to this report.
