Politics- President Donald Trump spoke at a rally in Lexington, Kentucky, on November 4, the same day that the public phase of the impeachment inquiry began.
- Trump supporters debuted a new campaign shirt with the phrase "READ THE TRANSCRIPT" at a rally in Kentucky on Monday.
- Trump's chief defense as the impeachment inquiry progresses is to "read the transcript," referring to the summary transcript of a call between the president and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky released by the White House.
- However, even though the president insists that investigators should refer to the transcript, Insider's John Haltiwanger points out it actually does more to damage to the president's case rather than helps it.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Trump supporters debuted a new campaign shirt with the phrase "READ THE TRANSCRIPT" at a rally in Kentucky on Monday.
President Donald Trump spoke at a rally in Lexington, Kentucky, on November 4, the same day that the public phase of the impeachment inquiry began.
Impeachment investigators released the transcripts of closed-door interviews with two witnesses: Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, and Michael McKinley, a top diplomat and former adviser Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Trump's chief defense as the impeachment inquiry progresses is to "read the transcript," referring to the summary memo of a call between the president and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky released by the White House.
The call served as the impetus behind a whistleblower complaint that sparked the impeachment inquiry.
However, even though the president insists that investigators should refer to the transcript, it actually does more to damage to the president's case rather than help it, as Insider's John Haltiwanger wrote.
The transcript shows the president asking Zelensky for a favor immediately after the Ukrainian president thanked the US for its "great support in the area of defense."
"I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it," Trump said, per the transcript. The president then "went on to push Zelensky to open an inquiry into the debunked conspiracy theory on the origins of the FBI's Russia probe before urging his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate the Bidens," Haltiwanger reported.
- Read more:
- Trump kicked off his 2020 campaign with a freewheeling rally riddled with falsehoods as he excoriated Mueller, Democrats, and the press
- Trump spent his first rally since the impeachment inquiry mocking Biden for 'kissing Barack Obama's a--' and launching into a tirade against Somali refugees
- On day one of his 2020 campaign, Trump promised to cure cancer, wipe out AIDS, and put an American on Mars
- 'I was not happy with it': Trump denounces attendees at his rally chanting 'send her back' about Rep. Ilhan Omar
- Trump compared Turkey attacking the Kurds to 'two kids in a lot': 'You have to let them fight, and then you pull them apart'
- Donald Trump just promised his supporters he'd 'put a man on the face of the moon.' We already did that.z