Trump: ‘Almost Everything’ the ‘Whistleblower’ Said About Call With Ukraine ‘Is Wrong’

Trump: ‘Almost Everything’ the ‘Whistleblower’ Said About Call With Ukraine ‘Is Wrong’
President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the Hispanic Heritage Month Reception at the White House in Washington on Sept. 27, 2019. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
Zachary Stieber
10/1/2019
Updated:
10/1/2019

President Donald Trump said that “almost everything” the person who filed the complaint against him said about Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was off the mark.

The transcript of the phone call was released last week and the complaint was released a day later. The complaint, which relied solely on information learned from others or media reports, featured three major contradictions with the transcript.

“So if the so-called ‘Whistleblower’ has all second-hand information, and almost everything he has said about my ‘perfect’ call with the Ukrainian President is wrong (much to the embarrassment of Pelosi & Schiff), why aren’t we entitled to interview & learn everything about the Whistleblower, and also the person who gave all of the false information to him,” Trump said in a statement on Twitter on Oct. 1.

“This is simply about a phone conversation that could not have been nicer, warmer, or better. No pressure at all (as confirmed by Ukrainian Pres.). It is just another Democrat Hoax!”

Trump has repeatedly sought to link the current impeachment inquiry to the yearslong probe of the Russia-Trump collusion theory, which was shattered earlier this year when special counsel Robert Mueller’s team said it could not establish cooperation or conspiracy between Trump or his campaign and Russian actors.

Both have been “witch hunts,” according to the president.

Trump said on Monday he wants to meet the person who filed the complaint and that the White House is trying to find out the identity of the whistleblower.

He also railed against Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) for fabricating part of the transcript in an attempt to make the president look bad.

(L)-Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) delivers opening remarks at a hearing featuring Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire testifying before the House Select Committee on Intelligence in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 26, 2019. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) (R)-President Donald Trump speaks to the media at the United Nations in New York on Sept. 24, 2019. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
(L)-Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) delivers opening remarks at a hearing featuring Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire testifying before the House Select Committee on Intelligence in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 26, 2019. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) (R)-President Donald Trump speaks to the media at the United Nations in New York on Sept. 24, 2019. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
“He actually took words and made it up. The reason is, when he saw my call to the President of Ukraine, it was so good that he couldn’t quote from it because it—there was nothing done wrong. It was perfect,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“So Adam Schiff decided, ‘I can’t let this happen, so let me make up' ... So Adam Schiff made up a phony call. And he read it to Congress, and he read it to the people of the United States. And it’s a disgrace. This whole thing is a disgrace.”

Schiff is one of the Democratic chairmen leading the impeachment inquiry. His committee has subpoenaed Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, asking for records they have regarding Trump’s requests to Zelensky to probe 2016 election interference.