WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - On the eve of the beginning of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry against him, President Donald Trump announced that he will release the transcript of his first phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart before the week's end.
This is the second time he is delaying the release of the transcript after offering last weekend to do so on Tuesday.
'I will be releasing the transcript of the first, and therefore more important, phone call with the Ukrainian President before week's end,' Trump said on Twitter Tuesday, referring to his conversation with Ukraine's President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy on April 12.
In a series of early morning tweets, the president attacked House impeachment inquiry witnesses by calling them 'Never Trumpers.'
'Why is such a focus put on 2nd and 3rd hand witnesses, many of whom are Never Trumpers, or whose lawyers are Never Trumpers, when all you have to do is read the phone call (transcript) with the Ukrainian President and see first hand?,' asked Trump.
Referring to Zelensky, Trump said, 'He and others also stated that there was 'no pressure' put on him to investigate Sleepy Joe Biden even though, as President, I have an 'obligation' to look into corruption, and Biden's actions, on tape, about firing the prosecutor, and his son's taking millions of dollars, with no knowledge or talent, from a Ukrainian energy company, and more millions taken from China, and now reports of other companies and countries also giving him big money, are certainly looking very corrupt (to put it mildly!) to me.'
He demanded that both the former Vice President and his son Hunter Biden should be forced to testify in what he described as the 'No Due Process Scam.'
The first public hearings in the impeachment inquiry launched by the House Democrats were set to begin on Wednesday.
The House committees are seeking grounds to impeach Trump over a request he made on July 25 over phone to Zelenskiy to conduct an investigation of his potential presidential rival Joe Biden and his son in return for releasing $400 million military aid to Ukraine.
The president has admitted discussing the issue with Zelensky but has repeatedly claimed there was 'no quid pro quo.'
Biden, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, was accused of pressuring Ukrainian government to fire the Prosecutor General who was conducting an inquiry against the owner of a Ukrainian natural gas company in which Hunter Biden served as board member.
Ukrainian authorities launched a series of criminal investigations against Mykola Zlochevsky, the President of Burisma Holdings Ltd.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2019 AFX News
