Trump Brings Up Hillary Clinton's Emails While Defending Ukraine Call
In a rambling press conference Wednesday in which he asserted he had done nothing wrong and tried to pivot the focus to Hillary Clinton’s emails, President Donald Trump defended asking the Ukrainian president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.
“You know there was no pressure,” Trump told reporters of his July 25 call with Volodymyr Zelensky, who joined him for the Wednesday press conference. A summary of the leaders’ call released earlier in the day revealed Trump asked Zelensky to investigate 2020 Democratic presidential contender Biden. Trump made the request while discussing U.S. military aid to Ukraine.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday called for a formal impeachment inquiry in the wake of the allegations that Trump urged a foreign power to go after his political rival.
When a reporter asked Trump Wednesday if he would like Zelensky to continue investigating Biden, Trump said he wanted him “to do whatever he can.”
“I want him to do whatever he can, this was not his fault, he wasn’t there,” Trump said of Zelensky. “But whatever he can do in terms of corruption, because corruption’s rampant. Now when Joe Biden’s son walks away with millions of dollars from Ukraine and he knows nothing and they’re paying him millions of dollars, that’s corruption.”
Trump was referring to a Ukrainian investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings while he was serving on the board of a Ukrainian gas company. The Ukrainian prosecutor in the case found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Trump then pivoted to former 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s emails, saying they should be investigated. He accused the U.S. government of being “corrupt,” defended using his personal lawyer as an envoy to Ukraine, and said Zelensky should give more money to the U.S.
He then attacked Pelosi for opening an impeachment investigation.
“She’s lost her way,” Trump said of Pelosi. “She’s been taken over by the radical left.”
He ended by saying that Pelosi is no longer speaker of the House. She is.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.