Donald Trump is frustrated. "We really shook up," he complains tiredly. "I was up early in the morning until late in the evening and met with different countries for the benefit of our country, and the press does not even report it."
Such an ingratitude. The US President blinks gloomily over the podium of a ballroom in Manhattan. Actually, he wanted to draw a proud record of his three busy days at the United, a few streets away. But the journalists only ask for one thing: after the Ukraine scandal - a scandal that could possibly bring Trump yet in the highest distress.
At least that's what it looks like. Since the Democrats have started preparations for impeachment, there are new revelations almost every hour. And unlike the Russian affair, they are easy to understand, harder to blur - and therefore more threatening to Trump.
In the video analysis: Why are the democrats now dare suddenly?
SAUL LOEB / AFP; THE MIRROR
So far, Trump has urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj to find incriminating evidence about Joe Biden, his potential rival in the upcoming election year - a possible violation of the law and the oath of office.
Trump admits to openly, but pretends it's perfectly legitimate. Escape forward: "The witch hunt continues," he scolds, as if this was just a continuation of the Russian affair and the Mueller report and not a brand new - possibly more acute - danger for him. "A joke, impeachment? Because of something?"
Trump must know how it stands. His grim expression, his giddy manner, his hoarseness, betray exhaustion - unusual for one who loves the squabbles of the media and thrives in a loud argument. Otherwise. But not today.
This may be due to the talk-marathon that lies behind him: he has conferred with more than two dozen heads of state and government on the sidelines of the UN general debate and proudly lists their countries at the beginning of the press conference, from Pakistan to Poland and Peru. But Trump's apparent disillusionment is probably also a sign that he underestimated the pace and scope of the recent drama.
more on the subject
He has a record of the incriminated telephone conversation with Selenskyj published in July of this year in order to relieve himself (read the wording here). "It was perfect," insists Trump. Nothing to complain about, all right. Or?
This backfires promptly: the five-page memo - which roughly reconstructs the half-hour conversation - is far from relieving. But on the contrary.
"But I want you to do us a favor," Trump said to Selenskyj, who had just asked him for help against Russia. And then Trump came up with - refuted - allegations against Biden and his son Hunter, who was doing business in Ukraine when his father was vice president under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama.
I have been informed @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy and all Republicans in the House that I fully support transparency on so-called whistleblower information. ..
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2019If this phone call was the only sticking point, then maybe Trump could even talk out. But the conversation is just one element of a longer whistleblower report that the White House wants to keep secret - because it probably contains worse things.
Democrats call content of complaint "deeply disturbing"
On Wednesday evening, some congressmen and senators were allowed to see this secretive report written by an anonymous informant within the government for the first time behind closed doors. "Deeply disturbing", summed up Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the secret service committee in the House of Representatives, afterwards, without getting involved in further details.
But it's only a matter of time before more ooze. This Thursday, US Intelligence Chief Joseph Maguire is scheduled to testify before the congress. Maguire had blocked the passing of the whistleblower report to parliament - although Michael Atkinson, the Inspector General of Intelligence, described the complaint as "credible" and "urgent." Atkinson, the Washington Post reported, suspected Trump broke the law.
Moreover, even the informant himself is now, according to information from CNN, ready to go to the congress under certain conditions. It should be explosive days.
White House sends strategy paper to political opponents
The events have overwhelmed the White House, which has already bled to death, in such a way that it accidentally sent an internal leaflet for the Republicans on Wednesday to Democrats. In it, the allegations are dismissed as "lies", "myths" and "media madness", as a kind of coup d'etat: The real scandal is that the phone call was launched.
Trump can be noted how nervous he is. His appearance before the UN correspondents differs from his other press conferences. Incoherent and often without apparent syntax, he talks about everything but Ukraine.
He talks about the 2016 election and Hillary Clinton, the US housing market and oil prices ("we have lots of oil"), wages ("go high") and inequality ("go down"), from Guatemala, Honduras and his "incredible" wall to Mexico. Almost every sentence contains a lie, an exaggeration or a fantasy.
Selenskyj on meeting with Trump: "Better than on the phone"
And the Ukraine scandal? Selenskyj himself, who happened to have a date with Trump on the fringes of the UN debate, had to face these questions just a few hours after the minutes of the telephone conversation became public.
Wearily, Selenskyj now sits in a chair next to Trump. "Better than the phone," he mumbles. But he does not want to be drawn into the internal affairs of the United States: "We had a good phone conversation," he assures. "Nobody pushed me." What can he say, he needs Trump's affection.
"I did not do it," says Trump later at his press conference. "All a hoax, people, a big hoax."
These are the same words he used to get out of the Russian affair. Whether they reach this time is open.
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