Pressure Applied by Trump on Ukraine Is an Abuse of Power

WASHINGTON – Today, the White House released a memorandum that describes portions of a July 25 telephone conversation between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The document includes a disclaimer that cautions readers: it is not a verbatim transcript, and a number of factors can affect its accuracy.

CLC President Trevor Potter, a former Republican Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission, released the following statement:

“On his phone call with the President of Ukraine, President Trump repeatedly pressured a newly-elected head of a foreign country to investigate a former U.S. Vice President and current candidate for President of the United States for his own political gain. This is a betrayal of his oath of office. Given the context of the call, President Trump created an implicit understanding that U.S. support for Ukraine and taxpayer-funded security aid to Ukraine was hanging in the balance. In order for the President and executive branch to be held accountable, Congress must exercise its core constitutional authority to ensure that the whistleblower complaint be released in its entirety, and all the facts surrounding this incident are publicly known.”