The chairs of the House Intelligence, Judiciary, Oversight and Foreign Affairs Committees on Wednesday released a caustic statement on the White House’s memo describing President Donald Trump’s July call with the Ukrainian president.
“The transcript is an unambiguous, damning, and shocking abuse of the Office of the Presidency for personal political gain,” the Democrats said. “This is a clear breach of trust placed in the President to faithfully execute the laws and to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.”
The committee leaders said the document “confirms our worst fears” about Trump’s attempt to use his position to help his own reelection prospects.
Their statement also addressed Trump and his GOP allies’ defense that the memo did not show any quid pro quo in regards to U.S. aid to Ukraine and Trump’s request for an investigation into Joe Biden.
“Let’s be clear: no quid pro quo is required to betray our country,” they said. “Trump asked a foreign government to interfere in our elections—that is betrayal enough.”
The Democrats emphasized their demand to review the whistleblower’s complaint, as well as any records of the Trump administration’s decision to withhold military aid from Ukraine shortly before Trump’s call to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
