Understanding the Trump Ukraine Call
An annotation of one of the most controversial and complicated moments of the Trump presidency.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s July phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, has tripped off one of the most complicated and controversial moments of the Trump presidency.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s July phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, has tripped off one of the most complicated and controversial moments of the Trump presidency.
On Wednesday, the White House released a much-anticipated memo summarizing the call with Zelensky amid growing controversy that Trump used the call to pressure the Ukrainian leader to investigate former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and his son.
The summary of the call shows that Trump urged Zelensky to look into Biden and his son Hunter
Biden, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian oil and natural gas company. During the call, which is reportedly the subject of a formal whistleblower complaint against the U.S. president, Trump said “I would like you to do us a favor,” to Zelensky after the Ukrainian president inquired about obtaining U.S. military equipment. Trump also told Zelensky that he should be in contact with U.S. Attorney General William Barr and Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer.
Foreign Policy has annotated the memo to unspool some of the more convoluted details and give context to the key points of the U.S.-Ukrainian relationship.
Amy Mackinnon is a national security and intelligence reporter at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @ak_mack
Reid Standish is an Alfa fellow and Foreign Policy’s special correspondent covering Russia and Eurasia. He was formerly an associate editor. Twitter: @reidstan
More from Foreign Policy
No, the World Is Not Multipolar
The idea of emerging power centers is popular but wrong—and could lead to serious policy mistakes.
America Prepares for a Pacific War With China It Doesn’t Want
Embedded with U.S. forces in the Pacific, I saw the dilemmas of deterrence firsthand.
America Can’t Stop China’s Rise
And it should stop trying.
The Morality of Ukraine’s War Is Very Murky
The ethical calculations are less clear than you might think.
Sign up for World Brief
FP’s flagship evening newsletter guiding you through the most important world stories of the day. Delivered weekdays.
By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.