Trump slams impeachment probe as hoax as Democrats seek White House
documents
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[October 03, 2019]
By Jeff Mason and Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald
Trump on Wednesday angrily denounced an impeachment inquiry into his
July telephone call with Ukraine's leader as Democratic lawmakers said
they would subpoena White House records about the call.
At a joint news conference with Finland's president, a frustrated Trump
blasted reporters who asked about the probe, which he called a hoax and
a fraud, but said he would cooperate with the inquiry. "I always
cooperate," he said.
His voice rising with anger, Trump lashed out at Reuters reporter Jeff
Mason, who asked what he had wanted Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskiy to do when Trump brought up the business ties to Ukraine of
Hunter Biden, son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
"It's a whole hoax, and you know who's playing into the hoax? People
like you and the fake news media that we have in this country," he
retorted. He told the reporter not to be “rude” and repeatedly evaded
the question.
Trump suggested, however, that his objective was corruption in Ukraine,
saying the United States gives the country a lot of money, and "I don't
like giving money to a country that's that corrupt. ... I don't like
being the sucker country."
The Democrats' subpoena request has the potential to become a flashpoint
in the showdown between the Republican president and the Democratic-led
House of Representatives.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a close ally of Trump, acknowledged
earlier in the day during a trip to Italy that he had listened in on the
call in which Trump asked Zelenskiy to investigate Biden, a former U.S.
vice president and a leading contender for the Democratic nomination to
face Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
The call prompted the House to launch its impeachment inquiry last week.
Pompeo's admission came a day after he objected to Democratic efforts as
part of the impeachment inquiry to obtain depositions from five current
and former State Department officials.
"We're not fooling around here, though. We don't want this to drag on
months and months and months, which appears to be the administration's
strategy," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, whose
panel leads the inquiry, told a news conference alongside House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings said he intended to
subpoena the White House for the Ukraine-related records on Friday, the
latest demand for evidence from an administration that has repeatedly
resisted such efforts by Democrats.
Trump seemed to make light of the request, telling reporters that Pelosi
"hands out subpoenas like they're cookies."
Schiff said Democrats were deeply concerned about the Trump
administration's potential interference with witnesses, and that any
such efforts by the president, Pompeo or others would be considered
obstruction of justice.
The House launched its impeachment inquiry, which threatens Trump's
presidency, following a complaint brought by a whistleblower within the
U.S. intelligence community over Trump's request to Zelenskiy.
The whistleblower provided an account of his concerns to a House
Intelligence Committee aide before bringing his complaint, and some of
that information was shared with Schiff, the New York Times reported,
citing a spokesman for Schiff and current and former U.S. officials.
Trump said the newspaper's report showed that "Schiff is a fraud" and
the president called it a "scandal" that Schiff had advance knowledge of
the complaint. "He probably helped write it," Trump said, without
offering evidence.
'HARD TO IMAGINE'
Trump made his request to Zelenskiy shortly after he had frozen nearly
$400 million in aid to Ukraine. Zelenskiy agreed to the request on the
call, and the aid was later provided. Democrats have accused Trump of
pressuring a vulnerable U.S. ally to meddle in the 2020 election for his
own political benefit.
"It's hard to imagine a more corrupt course of conduct," Schiff said.
Scrutiny of Pompeo's role in the administration's interactions with
Ukraine, including the recall of the U.S. ambassador to Kiev earlier
this year, rose after the Wall Street Journal reported that the top U.S.
diplomat had listened in on the Trump-Zelenskiy call.
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President Donald Trump addresses a joint news conference with
Finland's President Sauli Niinisto in the East Room of the White
House in Washington, U.S., October 2, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis
"I was on the phone call," Pompeo told reporters in Rome on
Wednesday.
Pompeo sought to portray the call as proper, saying it was in the
context of U.S. policymaking in Ukraine, including "taking down the
Russia threat," rooting out corruption in government and boosting
the economy.
The Democratic chairmen of three House committees have accused
Pompeo of intimidating witnesses and said he was considered "a fact
witness" in the impeachment inquiry based on his role in Trump's
call with Zelenskiy.
Pompeo said State Department employees had been contacted directly
by lawmakers or their staff and told not to talk to the State
Department's legal counsel. He has said, however, that he would
cooperate with Congress.
Democratic-led committees previously subpoenaed Pompeo and Trump's
personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, as well as documents.
According to a summary of the July call released by the White House,
Trump asked Zelenskiy to investigate Biden and his son Hunter in
coordination with U.S. Attorney General William Barr and Giuliani.
Hunter Biden had sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company that
had been under investigation by Kiev.
Trump on Wednesday called Biden and his son Hunter "stone-cold
crooked." The president has repeatedly accused the pair of
wrongdoing without providing any evidence.
Biden shot back in remarks prepared for a speech in Reno, Nevada, on
Wednesday night, accusing Trump of "abuse of power."
"Let me make something clear to Trump and his hatchet men and the
special interests funding his attacks against me - I'm not going
anywhere," Biden said, according to excerpts provided by his
campaign.
The prospect that Trump solicited Ukraine's help against his
potential challenger next year has infuriated Democrats, many of
whom blame the loss of the 2016 presidential election on Russian
interference. Moscow has denied interfering in that campaign.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he saw no
evidence of pressure in Trump's July conversation with Zelenskiy and
added that there was nothing wrong with the U.S. president asking
for an investigation into potential corruption.
U.S. intelligence agencies and Special Counsel Robert Mueller
concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election with a scheme
of hacking and propaganda to boost Trump's candidacy and disparage
his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
Kurt Volker, who resigned last Friday as Trump's special
representative for Ukraine, is scheduled to give a deposition to
House staff on Thursday. Marie Yovanovitch, who was U.S. ambassador
to Ukraine until she was abruptly recalled in May, has agreed to
appear on Oct. 11. In his phone call with Zelenskiy, Trump called
Yovanovitch "bad news."
Representative Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the Foreign
Affairs Committee, said in a letter to the panel's chairman, Eliot
Engel, that Schiff lacked jurisdiction to investigate the State
Department's conduct regarding Ukraine and demanded "equal
representation and participation" for Republicans in questioning
Volker.
The impeachment probe could lead to approval of articles of
impeachment - or formal charges - against Trump in the House. A
trial on whether to remove Trump from office would then be held in
the Republican-controlled Senate. Republicans, however, have shown
little appetite for ousting him.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Steve Holland and Doina Chiacu;
Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball, Jonathan Landay, Makini
Brice, Tim Ahmann and Steve Holland in Washington, David Brunnstrom
in Rome and Katya Golubkova in Moscow; Writing by Paul Simao and
Steve Holland; Editing by Will Dunham and Peter Cooney)
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