Zelenskiy Indicates Trump Didn’t Pressure Him Over Biden Probe

(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy indicated he didn’t feel pressured by Donald Trump to re-open an investigation into the U.S. president’s top Democratic rival as a condition of further military aid.

Zelenskiy spoke Wednesday in New York during a meeting with Trump as Washington was consumed with questions about what transpired during a July phone call between the two leaders.

“We had I think good phone call,” Zelenskiy said. “It was normal. We spoke about many things. I think, and you read it, that nobody pushed it.”

He added that he didn’t want to “be involved” in U.S. elections.

A transcript of the call released Wednesday shows that Trump pressured Zelenskiy to re-open a criminal inquiry linked to former Vice President Joe Biden’s family. Congress is investigating whether Trump made his demand in exchange for restoring U.S. military aid that Trump halted prior to the call.

What Trump said during the 30-minute exchange with Zelenskiy has become central to an impeachment inquiry House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Tuesday.

Trump’s allies said the transcript clears the president because he didn’t explicitly link U.S. aid to his request that Ukraine investigate his rival.

“There was no pressure,” Trump told reporters.

To contact the reporters on this story: Josh Wingrove in New York at jwingrove4@bloomberg.net;Jordan Fabian in New York at jfabian6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, Joshua Gallu

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