Trump Blames ‘Partisan Whistleblower’ For Allegation Of Improper Conversation – NPR

President Trump and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Trump says reports of an improper conversation with a foreign leader are “ridiculous.”

Susan Walsh/AP

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Susan Walsh/AP

President Trump and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Trump says reports of an improper conversation with a foreign leader are “ridiculous.”

Susan Walsh/AP

Updated at 12:05 p.m. ET

President Trump blamed “a political hack job” for reports that a whistleblower has charged he had an improper conversation with a foreign leader.

The Washington Post on Friday reported the conversation in question involves Ukraine.

Trump said he did not know the identity of the whistleblower, “but I hear it’s a partisan person.”

Trump said it was a “totally appropriate conversation. It was actually a beautiful conversation,” although he did not specify with whom.

Asked if he mentioned former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in the conversation, Trump said, “Somebody ought to look into Joe Biden’s statement because it’s disgraceful.”

Trump alleged that Biden “talked [about] billions of dollars that he’s not giving to a certain country unless a certain prosecutor was taken off the case.”

Trump supporters have alleged that the senior Biden, while in office, urged the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor who was allegedly looking into son Hunter Biden’s business dealings.

The younger Biden joined the board of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, in 2014.

Biden’s campaign has so far not commented on the row over the intelligence community whistleblower, which has mushroomed after the IC’s top watchdog told House lawmakers on Thursday he would not reveal the details about it.

The Ukraine connection and other aspects of the story are so far unverified by officialdom.

Trump addressed the story on Friday when he took questions from reporters in the Oval Office prior to a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Trump said of the whistleblower’s report, which is not public or in the hands of Congress: “Everybody’s read it, they laughed at it. It’s another media disaster, and the media has lost so much credibility in this country.”