Donald Trump said on Monday he is considering the release of a transcript of his controversial July phone call with Ukraine’s president but noted concerns about the precedent of doing so.
Trump is under fire to show what he said in his July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy after reports surfaced that Trump had pressed Zelenskiy to investigate accusations involving the son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
The pressure on Zelenskiy is the subject of a whistleblower complaint from an unidentified official in the U.S. government.
Trump, during a picture-taking session with Polish President Andrzej Duda, said “I may do it” when asked if he was going to release a transcript of the call.
But he said he was concerned about the precedent of releasing transcripts of presidential phone calls with foreign leaders.
During a quick bilat with Duda, Trump then said, “if a Republican ever did what Joe Biden did … they’d be getting the electric chair right now,” before calling the assembled journalists “crooked as hell.”
.@realDonaldTrump [1] just said that anyone who had done what he alleges @JoeBiden [2] has done in Ukraine would get the electric chair. Then he called journalists “crooked as hell.” #UNGA [3], only day one…
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) September 23, 2019 [4]
And then just second later says “Okay, thank you very much. I hope you enjoyed it.”
WATCH:
Trump ends his bilateral media availability with the Polish president by claiming that "if a Republican ever did what Joe Biden did … they'd be getting the electric chair right now," before calling the assembled journalists "crooked as hell." 😳 pic.twitter.com/38q03H2SGy [5]
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 23, 2019 [6]