Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, a frontrunner for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, on Saturday called for an investigation into reports that President Donald Trump pressed his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate Biden and his son.
"This appears to be an overwhelming abuse of power. To get on the phone with a foreign leader who is looking for help from the United States and ask about me and imply things … this is outrageous," a visibly angry Biden said while campaigning in Iowa, Reuters reported.
"Trump is using this because he knows I'll beat him like a drum and is using the abuse of power and every element of the presidency to try to do something to smear me," Biden said.
Trump's July 25 telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is at the center of an escalating battle over a whistleblower's complaint reportedly concerning the U.S. leader's dealings with Ukraine that the administration has refused to give Congress.
Read alsoTop prosecutor Lutsenko says no evidence of wrongdoing by Bidens in Ukraine: media
As UNIAN reported, Zelensky's press service said on July 25 that during a telephone conversation, Trump expressed his conviction that the new Ukrainian government would be able to quickly improve Ukraine's image and complete an investigation into corruption cases that had hindered interaction between Ukraine and the United States.
UNIAN memo. Ukrainian authorities have been probing into money laundering in the amount of over US$33 million during the acquisition of a group of companies of Kherson oil transshipment, in which Wirelogic Technology AS, Digitex Organization LLP, and ex-Minister of Ecology, businessman Mykola Zlochevsky's Burisma Holdings Limited were involved. Hunter Biden, son of former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, was a member of the latter's board.
On May 14, the then Prosecutor General, Yuriy Lutsenko, said that Ukraine was ready to transfer materials on Burisma to U.S. law enforcement agencies. According to him, the investigation had a printout of all the Burisma payments, including to senior U.S. officials.
