WASHINGTON
U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly pressured his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Citing people familiar with matter, the newspaper said Trump urged Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone call in July “about eight times to work with Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer, on a probe” into Hunter Biden.
“[Trump] told [Zelenzky] that he should work with [Giuliani] on Biden, and that people in Washington wanted to know,” whether allegations were, a source told the Journal.
According to the same person, the U.S. president did not mention a provision of foreign aid to Ukraine on the call. That person also said that the Trump lawyer met with senior Ukrainian officials about the prospect of an investigation.
House Democrats are reportedly looking into whether the U.S. president sought to benefit from information that can harm Biden and help Trump’s reelection campaign.
Giuliani claimed the former vice president worked to safeguard a Ukrainian gas company linked to his son.
Hours before the report, Trump backed his phone call with the Ukrainian leader, calling it “totally appropriate.”
Speaking to reporters at Oval Office, Trump did not respond to questions about if he had discussed Biden with the Ukrainian leader, and said: “It doesn’t matter what I discussed”.
“Someone ought to look into Joe Biden,” Trump said.
