Trump Pointed To ‘Stenographer Report’ Of Ukraine Call. That’s Not What WH Released.

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 07: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event where U.S.-Japan trade agreements were signed at the White House on October 7, 2019 in Washington, DC. President Trump also spoke about ... WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 07: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event where U.S.-Japan trade agreements were signed at the White House on October 7, 2019 in Washington, DC. President Trump also spoke about the U.S. Southern Border, Syria, and the current impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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President Donald Trump put a new spin on his now-infamous July call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the center of a whistleblower’s complaint that spurred the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.

During an event where U.S.-Japan trade agreements were signed at the White House Monday, Trump defended the July call during which he pressured Zelensky to concoct dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter and said anyone can read about his “perfect” call because there is a “stenographer report” of it.

That’s not the case.

The White House’s release of a “memorandum” of the call between Trump and Zelensky last month included a disclaimer stating that it is “not a verbatim transcript.”

“The text in this document records the notes and recollections of the Situation Room Duty Officers and NSC policy staff assigned to listen and memorialize the conversation in written form as the conversation takes place. A number of factors can affect the accuracy of the record, including poor telecommunications connections and variations in accent and/or interpretation,” the disclaimer continued.

Trump began his remarks Monday by saying that the release of the call memo sets a “terrible precedent.”

But the whistleblower or whatever the news was, was so off, it was so horrible, I said I never said that,” Trump said. “Let me see: we have a stenographer report. We have a very word for word report of what I said. I released it.”

Trump then claimed that “almost everybody that read it said it’s either perfect or really very good” despite how the record of the call showed Trump pressuring Ukraine on  the anti-Biden smear campaign spearheaded by the President’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

“It’s a very normal, nice conversation, and when you see that the president of Ukraine, President Zelensky, said there was no pressure put on me whatsoever, his spokesman came out two days ago and said there was absolutely no pressure on the president,” Trump said. “I didn’t tell him to say that. There was no pressure. All you have to do is read the report.”

Watch Trump’s remarks below:

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Notable Replies

  1. Well, given that Perry directed him to make the call, yet he never mentioned “Oil”, “Gas”, “Energy” or anything like that in the 10-minute transcript…

    Maybe the 30-minute stenographer version includes those key details.

    I love the smell of impeachment in the morning.

  2. The neural degradation is becoming more palpable every single day…

  3. The relentless lying. IMO, that’s been the hardest part of this whole fucking nightmare. Every goddamn word out of his mouth.

  4. Such a weak, feckless human being.

  5. I was with you for the first half of the sentence, but this?

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