美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在公布与乌克兰总统沃洛季米尔·泽兰斯基通话的部分记录两个多月之后，首次直接发表评论，要求乌克兰总统“帮忙”。
7月25日的电话是众议院弹劾调查的重要证据。这表明特朗普正在推动泽兰斯基调查可疑的腐败指控和针对他的政治对手——前副总统乔·拜登和民主党——的阴谋论。
特朗普总统还敦促泽兰斯基与他的私人律师鲁迪·朱利安尼和美国司法部长比尔·巴尔，他们都在努力挖掘总统政治对手与乌克兰有关的丑闻。
特朗普被指控在2020年选举中寻求外国干涉，并滥用职权。据称，他将白宫为泽兰斯基举行的会议和3.91亿美元的军事援助以开启腐败调查为条件，腐败调查会玷污他的对手。
在电话中，泽伦斯基感谢特朗普在国防方面给予美国的支持，并表示乌克兰“准备继续为下一步合作，特别是我们几乎准备好从美国购买更多标枪。”
“不过我希望你能帮我们一个忙，”特朗普回答，“因为我们的国家经历了很多，乌克兰对此也知道很多，”他引用克罗斯特里克阴谋论和拜登的话，敦促泽兰斯基“找出整个局势发生了什么”。
特朗普授权发布那次通话的部分文字记录，他称之为“完美”并否认在乌克兰问题上有任何不当行为。周四凌晨，特朗普首次为自己的“赞成”言论进行直接辩护。
“当我在给乌克兰总统的电话中说，‘我希望你能帮我们一个忙，因为我们的国家经历了很多，乌克兰对此了解很多。’特朗普在推特上写道:“我说的‘我们’是指美国，我们的国家。”。
“我接着说‘我希望(美国)司法部长给你或你的人民打电话……”根据我所看到的，这是他们的重点——而且根本没有意义(除了对我来说是一个大胜利！)。民主党应该向美国人民道歉！"
除此之外，众议院弹劾调查已经从政府内部的证人那里获得了证据，包括美国驻欧盟高级外交官和乌克兰，为反对特朗普辩护。
情报委员会领导情报收集工作，并从主要证人那里获得证词。其关于特朗普涉嫌不当行为的报告现已提交给司法委员会弹劾程序的专家证人。
根据情报小组的报告特朗普“在2020年美国总统选举中寻求外国政府乌克兰的干预”
“总统为了他的连任而从事这一行为，损害了一个政治对手的选举前景，并对我们国家即将到来的总统选举施加对他有利的影响，”报告继续说。
“这样做，总统将个人政治利益置于美国国家利益之上，试图破坏美国总统选举进程的完整性，危及美国国家安全。”
TRUMP TWEETS BELATED DEFENSE OF 'FAVOR' COMMENTS IN ZELENSKIY CALL WEEKS AFTER RELEASING TRANSCRIPT
More than two months after releasing the partial transcript of his call with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, U.S. President Donald Trump has addressed for the first time directly his comment requesting a "favor" from his counterpart.
The July 25 call is an important piece of evidence in the House impeachment inquiry. It shows Trump pushing for Zelenskiy to look into dubious corruption allegations and a conspiracy theory against his political opponents: former Vice President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.
President Trump also urges Zelenskiy to speak with his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who was working to dig up Ukraine-related dirt on the president's political rivals, and the U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr about the widely-debunked claims.
Trump is accused of soliciting foreign interference in the 2020 election and abusing the power of his office. He allegedly conditioned a White House meeting for Zelenskiy and $391 million in military aid on the opening of corruption investigations that would taint his opponents.
During the call, Zelenskiy thanks Trump for U.S. support on defense and said Ukraine is "ready to continue to cooperate for the next steps, specifically we are almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States."
"I would like you to do us a favor though," Trump replies, "because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it," pressing Zelenskiy to "find out what happened with this whole situation" referring to the Crowdstrike conspiracy theory and also Biden.
Trump authorized the release of a partial transcript of that call, which he describes as "perfect"and denies any wrongdoing over Ukraine, on September 24. In the early hours of Thursday morning, Trump made his first direct defense of his "favor" comments.
"When I said, in my phone call to the President of Ukraine, '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.' With the word 'us' I am referring to the United States, our Country," Trump wrote on Twitter.
"I then went on to say that 'I would like to have the Attorney General (of the United States) call you or your people.....' This, based on what I have seen, is their big point - and it is no point at a all (except for a big win for me!). The Democrats should apologize to the American people!"
Further to the call, the House impeachment inquiry has taken evidence from witnesses inside the administration, including the top U.S. diplomats to the European Union and Ukraine, to build its case against Trump.
The intelligence committee led the intelligence-gathering efforts and took testimony from key witnesses. Its report on Trump's alleged misconduct is now with the judiciary committee, which is hearing from expert witnesses on the process of impeachment.
According to the intelligence panel's report, Trump "solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, in the 2020 U.S. presidential election."
"The President engaged in this course of conduct for the benefit of his reelection, to harm the election prospects of a political opponent, and to influence our nation's upcoming presidential election to his advantage," the report continued.
"In so doing, the President placed his personal political interests above the national interests of the United States, sought to undermine the integrity of the U.S. presidential election process, and endangered U.S. national security."
