Donald Trump to meet Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky amid Biden scandal
US President Donald Trump will meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly today, amid allegations that Trump abused his presidential powers in a call to Zelenskiy on July 25.
An intelligence whistleblower has accused Trump of pressuring the Ukrainian president to investigate Joe Biden—the frontrunner for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination. Allegedly, Trump repeatedly asked Zelenskiy to examine Biden’s role in the removal of a prosecutor who looked into the dealings of a Ukrainian gas company with which Biden’s son was involved.
Three House committees have demanded documents related to the conversation between the two leaders. If the allegations are true, a political crisis would result.
Some Democrats have signalled their willingness to initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump if he is found guilty. If such proceedings were to begin, 218 of the 435 Representatives and 67 of the 100 Senators in Congress would need to vote in favour of impeachment to remove President Trump from office.
Congress will likely investigate both Biden and Trump for their dealings with the Ukrainian government. If Ukraine is found to be colluding with either, it risks losing bipartisan support for aid from the US, which would be a major blow to Kyiv’s leverage in conflicts with Moscow.
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