Trump-Zelensky July 25 phone call transcript released

The White House released on Sept. 25 the transcript of
the July 25 phone call between Ukrainian President Zelensky and U.S. President
Trump, which had been the source of speculation that the American president
applied pressure to investigate the Ukraine activity of presidential contender
Joe Biden. The transcript revealed that Trump advised Zelensky “to look into”
then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden having pressured then-Ukrainian President
Poroshenko to fire former Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was allegedly
investigating Ukrainian natural gas business dealings of his son Hunter Biden
at the time.

“There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden
stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that,” Trump
said in the July 25 call. “So whatever you can do with the Attorney General
would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution. So
if you can look into it.”

Trump was referring to Biden’s January 2018 speech to
the Council of Foreign Relations in New York, in which he boasted of
threatening to withhold USD 1 bln in IMF loans if Poroshenko didn’t dismiss
Shokin. Biden said at the time, “I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six
hours’. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. (…) He
got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.”

During the July 25 call, Trump also informed Zelensky
that he would receive phone calls from his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani,
and U.S. Attorney General William Barr “and we will get to the bottom of it,”
he said. “I’m sure you will figure it out. I heard the prosecutor was treated
very badly and he was a very fair prosecutor. So good luck with everything,”
Trump said. The July 25 call was the second contact between Trump and Zelensky.
Trump had reportedly called Zelensky the first time on Apr. 21 to congratulate
him on his election victory. He told reporters on Sept. 25 that that transcript
would be released as well, as reported by thedailybeast.com.

Alexander Paraschiy: This
scandal works to Ukraine’s advantage in maintaining its strong relations with
both the Republican and Democrat parties. Both Trump and Biden are now in a
position of having to be sensitive to Ukraine’s needs, lest they be accused of
more Ukraine meddling by political rivals. Trump especially will be working to
quell public suspicion that he is pressuring the Zelensky administration,
particularly among those who are not convinced by the released transcript.

Meanwhile, Zelensky played his cards well by not
taking sides in the scandal and insisting that Trump didn’t pressure him. So we
expect Ukraine’s relations with the U.S. government will remain strong under
Trump, if not improve. That’s especially considering that Zelensky has made a
serious commitment and will go to painful lengths to end the warfare in Donbas,
a policy that Trump fully supports.