Now that the transcript of President Donald Trump’s much-hyped telephone conversation with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has been made public, one thing is clear beyond any dispute: Numerous congressional Democrats, Democratic Party 2020 candidates, and several pro-Democrat media outlets lied flat out to the American people about what Trump said to Zelensky.
The unredacted, five-page transcript is now available for everyone to see and to judge for themselves. The story – more of a fable – was that, during the call, Trump had threatened to withhold financial aid to Ukraine unless the Hunter Biden-Ukraine connection was investigated. The allegation was that Trump promised Zelensky something if the latter provided him with some “dirt” on Joe Biden, Hunter's father and a potential 2020 presidential candidate.
No Evidence to Support Dem Claims
None of those claims has turned out to be true. Trump did not promise Zelensky anything except an open invitation to visit the White House. Trump did not demand an investigation into Hunter Biden or threaten to withhold aid to Ukraine. No rational person can read this transcript and claim otherwise.
Taking a step back, it is worth putting this affair in perspective. Democrats have claimed that the crime here is the offer, by Trump, of a quid pro quo: The Ukrainians would get their financial aid on condition that they investigate Joe Biden’s connection to a Ukrainian energy company.
Obama Administration’s Murky Ukraine Connections
The back story is that while the senior Biden was Barack Obama’s vice president, Biden junior landed a very lucrative directorship with a Ukrainian energy company. Hunter Biden had no previous connection to Ukraine, no knowledge of the language, no knowledge of the energy sector, and nothing in his resume that suggests he is qualified to be a director of any company.
The company in question, Burisma, came under investigation by Ukraine’s top prosecutor (who, himself, may or may not have been corrupt, depending on which story one believes). Joe Biden visited Ukraine and threatened to withhold more than a billion dollars in aid unless the prosecutor was fired. That is, clearly, exactly the kind of quid pro quo the Democrats are claiming is a crime.
Moreover – and even assuming Joe Biden merely demanded the removal of a corrupt prosecutor – this was a case of the Obama administration meddling in the internal affairs of a foreign country and using financial aid as leverage to coerce a foreign government to take a certain action.
The real story, here, is that the Obama administration had involved itself in Ukrainian politics. Obama’s ambassador to that country was an open supporter of Ukraine’s previous president and also may have been involved in providing evidence – possibly phony evidence – that lead to criminal charges against former Trump election campaign manager, Paul Manafort. In fact, it is even possible that the entire Trump-Russia collusion hoax originated in Ukraine. Additionally, Ukrainians are in a position to provide information that is relevant to the alleged hacking of a Democratic National Committee server.
Given those possibilities, it is not unreasonable that Trump would ask the Ukrainian president to cooperate with the ongoing US Department of Justice investigation into the genesis of the collusion lie. The Democrats, no doubt, are terrified of what information may emerge from Ukraine. Hence, the hysterics over Trump’s conversation with Zelensky.
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