Donald Trump was quick to agree to the release of the Ukraine call transcript — the one in which a whistleblower came forward stating that Donald had attempted to extort the president of the foreign country into giving him dirt on former Vice President and Democratic candidate Joe Biden by withholding military aid and funding until the Ukrainian president agreed — when he thought that it would help dig him out of the hole he’d effectively dug for himself.
However, Trump’s “transcript” (which we would hardly call an actual transcript at all) ended up proving to be entirely useless for him. While he chose to release it himself for some reason, the contents of the call, even in their obviously altered state, were still blatantly self-incriminating and it did absolutely nothing to stanch the impeachment inquiry that Donald knew was soon to roll in. In fact, House Speaker Pelosi had already made her decision and announced it to the world before the transcript of the phone call even went public.
It seems that all that transcript ended up doing was piss off Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
While in attendance at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Zelenskiy told reporters, “I think such things, such conversations between heads of independent states, they shouldn’t be published.”
Trump took to his own Twitter account the day before the release claiming that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had received the green light from the Ukrainian government to release the transcript, however, Zelenskiy made no such indication to reporters.
According to Ukrainian legal expert Roman Marchenko, the release of the Ukranian president’s private conversation with a fellow world leader could have been a violation of constitutional protections of privacy in correspondence and phone calls if Ukraine’s government was not made aware of the plan and gave the go-ahead to release it.
“What Trump did (in publishing the rough transcript) is a violation of Ukrainian laws,” Marchenko stated to the Associated Press.
While we’re unsure as to whether or not Ukraine ultimately gave permission to reveal the contents of the phone call in question, it’s pretty clear that Zelenskiy is fairly irked over the situation. If you’ve read the transcript, you know that he had some less than flattering things to say about German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron and he’s now left trying to smooth that over.
“I am grateful for any assistance to Ukraine from our European leaders, from Ms. Merkel, from Mr. Macron, and from others,” the Ukrainian president stated.
This seems like the perfect time for Zelenskiy to learn the same thing that his fellow world leaders such as Merkel and Macron already know — when it comes down between you and Donald Trump on the chopping block, Trump is going to ensure that it’s always you.
Featured image via DC Tribune GalleryÂ
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