Week in Review: Trump, Biden, and the Ukraine
This post was written by Taylor Foster.
Trump is no stranger to the onslaught of allegations that have trailed him since he took office back in 2016. A new allegation arose regarding Trump calling upon Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s current President, to look into Joe Biden’s son’s business dealings in Ukraine during the Obama Administration. It is also stated that Trump pressured Ukraine’s new leader to talk to Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Guiliani, who had previously been pressing on the Ukrainian government to look into the Biden family dealings in the country.
Even with a possible allegation against him, Joe Biden urged there to be an investigation on the arising allegation, but Trump deflected Biden by saying that the call with Mr. Zelensky was “perfectly fine and routine.” While he describes the calling of President Zelensky normal, he refuses to release any of the transcripts. He claims that the press seeking to look into his phone calls is another “witch hunt” done by the Democrats. Trump also describes the situation as a “ridiculous story, partisan whistle-blower.” The whistle blower’s complaint is unknown so far, as well as their identity, but Trump persists that the whistleblower in question should not have had any access to the information about his phone call to Volodymyr.
Former Vice President Joe Biden expressed that the accusation on his family’s dealings in Ukraine is baseless and harmless. After a campaign event in Iowa, Biden asserted to reporters that “not one single outlet has given any credibility to his assertion.” On Saturday, September 21st, Biden claimed that he and his son, Hunter, had never spoken about any overseas work. While officials in the State Department express that the business done was harmless, it still could cause complications down the road in Biden’s presidential campaign future.
There has been questioning on Trump’s part regarding the relationship between the United States and the Ukranian government, but it has (mostly) stayed in the realm of foreign policy. This information comes up after last month when a complaint was filed against Trump regarding his engagement with a mystery leader. In turn, the Intelligence Community Inspector General found the complaint to be both urgent and credible enough to be brought to the attention of the Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maquire. While the whistleblower’s complaint and identity are left unknown to the public, Congress, and the President, there have been indications that this is regarding dealings with a Ukranian official and some members of Congress are strengthening their calls for impeachment.
