President Donald Trump urged the Ukrainian president to get in touch with Attorney General William Barr about launching an investigation tied to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, according to a transcript of the call released Wednesday.
"I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it," Trump said during the call, before asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to look into a topic related to former special counsel Robert Mueller III's investigation.
Trump made the remark after Zelensky suggested that Ukraine might be prepared to buy missiles from the U.S.
"I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it," the president added, according to the transcript of the July phone call released by the White House.
Zelensky said that his country "will look into the situation, specifically to the company that you mentioned in this issue," in reference to the cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, which had determined that Russia had hacked the Democratic National Committee's servers.
"I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call and I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call and we will get to the bottom of it. I'm sure you will figure it out," Trump said. "I heard the prosecutor was treated very badly and he was a very fair prosecutor so good luck with everything."
In a statement released Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the attorney general said Barr has not spoken with the Trump about having Ukraine investigate Biden's son, and that Barr has not been asked to contact Ukraine.
"The Attorney General has not communicated with Ukraine—on this or any other subject," said DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec in a statement. "Nor has the Attorney General discussed this matter, or anything relating to Ukraine, with Rudy Giuliani."
The Justice Department also released an Office of Legal Counsel memo Wednesday, stating that the whistleblower complaint about the call was not "urgent" because it involved the president, and not a member of the intelligence community.
In an unclassified version of the memo released Wednesday, the office stated that the whistleblower heard of Trump's conversation with Zelensky secondhand. Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel, however, argued that Trump was not a member of the intelligence committee, and the complaint therefore did not have to be shared with Congress.
Engel said the whistleblower provided "a hearsay report that the President, who is not a member of the intelligence community, abused his authority or acted unlawfully in connection with foreign diplomacy." And it said Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson found the complaint to be "urgent" because the director of national intelligence "has operational responsibility to prevent election interference."
"But even if so, it does not follow that the alleged misconduct by the President concerns 'the funding, administration, or operation of an intelligence activity within the responsibility and authority' of the DNI because the allegations do not arise in connection with any such intelligence activity at all," the memo states. "The complaint therefore does not state an 'urgent concern.'"
Engel wrote that OLC doesn't believe "the subjects of 'urgent concern' reports to the ICIG are broader than other matters that fall within the investigative and reporting authority of the ICIG."
And he revealed that the inspector general found "some indicia of an arguable political bias on the part of the Complainant in favor of a rival political candidate," but that Atkinson determined the claims still "appeared credible."
Rather, the OLC memo argues that the matter should have been referred to DOJ.
The memo was released at the same time as the White House released its transcript of the call between Trump and Zelensky.
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