Although the White House’s memorandum on President Trump’s now-infamous July call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky explicitly states that it’s “not a verbatim transcript of a discussion,” a Google search result of the memo says otherwise.
A Google search inquiry for “White House transcript” produces, well, a result displayed as “Transcript!!! – The White House.”
When TPM asked the White House for comment Tuesday morning on why the Ukraine call memorandum is listed as “transcript!!!” in a Google search result, press secretary Stephanie Grisham responded: “I think that is a question for Google….?”
However, when TPM entered “White House memo” and “White House Ukraine call” into Google, a less decipherable result emerged:
The “unclassified” term appears to refer to the file name of the PDF of the memo: “Unclassified09.2019.pdf.”
TPM reached out to Google for comment on the search result and will update this post if we hear back.
Excellent detective work. Somebody got some 'splaining to do.
Maybe somebody can help me out here. I fail to see the significance of a google result. It doesn’t seem to say anything we didn’t already know. I’m also skeptical that a google result would have any standing in a court (even of public opinion).
It’s probably staring me in the face. Is there such a thing as “reader’s block”?
If there is, it’s catching.
Not sure if it’s eyebrow raising or just chin-stroking, but it sure is interesting.
And somebody had to put that “Transcript!!! - The White House” label on it and somebody had to direct that it be done.
I wonder if the 3 exclamation points give us any clue.
Can anyone just put up a pdf. with a link to whitehouse.gov and call it whatever they like? I’m guessing yes. And, hey, let’s not get into conspiracy theories of our own.
ETA: As others have pointed out on other comment threads, I think the more interesting, important and impactful thing is what Lt. Colonel Vindman and others may say about what was said by Trump that was not included in the released memo of the call, as well as other conversations they may have heard.
ETA(2): Question: Is this the search result you would have gotten yesterday or last week? Because, today Trump has posted numerous tweets where he says, “READ THE TRANSCRIPT!!!” and suggests that puts an end to and contradicts anything that Vindman or others have to say about the call. One tweet includes “READ THE TRANSCRIPT AND THE IMPEACHMENT HOAX IS OVER!”
I’m with you. While the memorandum is not a “transcript” per se, that is what it looks like, and its the word most frequently used to describe it. Its also the word most people would use were they to search for it.