Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) reportedly advised President Donald Trump to release the memo this week on his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to the Washington Post, McConnell had urged the White House to do so in order to prove Trump’s repeated claims that the call was “perfect” and above board.
Two anonymous sources told the Post that McConnell was worried about the political damage from public speculation around the call, which was reported at the time to be part of Trump’s pressure campaign against Ukraine to get the country to investigate 2020 candidate Joe Biden.
When the White House finally released its notes on the call, however, the reports were confirmed to be true and the scandal ballooned even further, leading House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to begin an impeachment inquiry against Trump.
