Ukraine foreign minister denies there was any quid pro quo: Trump pressured no one

Joe Biden Donald Trump
The Ukrainian foreign minister denied left-wing media rumors that President Trump had pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate Joe Biden’s alleged abuse of power as vice president. (screenshot, WH file photo)

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko denied an unsubstantiated Washington Post report claiming President Trump had pressured Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden’s alleged abuse of power during his eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president.

In an interview with TV station Hromadske, Minister Prystaiko flatly denied the rumor. He also underscored that “we are an independent state” and not a puppet of either Democrats or Republicans.

“I know what the conversation was about, and I think there was no pressure,” Prystaiko said. “There was talk. Leaders have the right to discuss any problems that exist. This conversation was long, friendly, and it touched on a lot of questions, including those requiring serious answers.”

Moreover, Prystaiko said he doesn’t want his country to be used as a prop in the political tussle between Democrats and Republicans. He said Ukraine will work with whichever party is in office without prejudice — as it always has.

“Those people who are engaged in Ukrainian-American relations understand that we have always tried to appreciate assistance from both parties,” the foreign minister said. “This assistance allowed us to ensure that with the change of administration, we will not change the priorities in relations with the United States.”


(Source: Hromadske)

Here’s the back story: In 2014, Joe’s son Hunter Biden was on the board of directors of Burisma Holdings, an energy company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch.

While he was vice president, Joe Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees if Ukraine didn’t fire its top prosecutor, who was investigating the owner of Burisma Holdings (video below).

This was clearly a conflict of interest — a claim the Left has repeatedly hurled at President Trump without evidence.

 

According to gleeful reports from the Washington Post and the New York Times, a “whistleblower” without direct knowledge claims that Trump had pressured Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky (during a July 25 phone call) to investigate Joe Biden’s alleged abuse of power.

Naturally, the media ran with the story despite the fact that the anonymous whistleblower did not have direct knowledge of the communication.

So basically, this entire “bombshell” report is more innuendo from an anonymous third party.

CNN Ukraine whistleblower did not have direct knowledge

Meanwhile, three Democrats are breathlessly demanding an investigation into whether President Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani tried to pressure Ukrainian authorities to investigate Joe Biden.

The Washington Post promoted this narrative to suggest that Trump was asking a foreign power to interfere in the 2020 election.

President Trump and his attorney Giuliani shot down the Washington Post report as yet another failed left-wing attempt to undermine Trump.

The president slammed the “Fake News Media” and its well-documented history of debunked anti-Trump narratives.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1175542062483218432

Now that Robert Mueller’s fruitless “Russia collusion” investigation is closed — with no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion — a bombshell new probe suggests there was election collusion between Hillary Clinton and Ukraine.

In March 2019, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General launched a criminal investigation into a Clinton-Ukraine collusion plot to rig the 2016 election in Hillary’s favor.

The plot implicated Barack Obama’s alleged attempt to influence the 2016 election in favor of Hillary, his former secretary of state:

“Lutsenko accused the Obama-era U.S. embassy in 2016 of interfering in his ability to prosecute corruption cases, saying the U.S. ambassador gave him a list of defendants that he would not be allowed to pursue and then refused to cooperate in an early investigation into the alleged misappropriation of U.S. aid in Ukraine.”

In September 2016 — Hillary Clinton met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (see video).

During the meeting, Poroshenko profusely thanked Hillary for her past support of Ukraine and for her pledge to support Ukraine if she became president. That was two months before the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Sure sounds like collusion.

Jesse Watters says Trump lawyers ‘demolished’ Dems’ impeachment case: ‘It’s over!’

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