Democrat contends Ukraine officials ‘very confused’ by Trump campaign entreaties

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Wednesday said that Ukraine was confused about the appropriate way to communicate with the United States government when approached by allies of President Trump.
“The government there, which is a novice government, was very confused about whether they should be listening to the U.S. Embassy or they should be listening to the president’s campaign advisers who were making these demands on them about investigations,” the Connecticut lawmaker said on CNN’s “New Day.”
The Ukrainian government “was very confused about whether they should be listening to the US Embassy or… the President’s campaign advisers,” says Sen. Chris Murphy about what he found out on his visit to Ukraine and his conversation with the government.https://t.co/dRkyg1MBOo pic.twitter.com/D5m6kjDceF
— New Day (@NewDay) September 25, 2019
Murphy’s comments follow a Washington Post report detailing the role played by Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, in alleged efforts to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.{mosads}
The report from the Post said Giuliani’s efforts in Ukraine followed a battle within the White House that empowered the president’s personal attorney at the expense of national security advisers.
Ukraine is at the center of a new controversy that on Tuesday triggered a formal impeachment inquiry against Trump.
Lawmakers are looking into whether Trump pressured Ukraine’s government to launch an investigation into a political opponent, Biden. They are also concerned that Trump may have delayed military aid to Ukraine as leverage.
Trump has defended his conversations with the Ukrainian leader and said he has authorized the release of a transcript of his July call with Zelensky. Trump argues the transcript will show he did nothing wrong.
“When you have a new president of Ukraine who is hearing from the United States of America that his aid is being cut off and that he has an outstanding request to do the president’s political bidding, it is common sense that he … would connect the two,” Murphy said Wednesday morning.
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