Allegations against Trump: Ukrainian government wants to stay out of impeachment investigations

For the time being, at least on the part of the Ukrainian government, US President Donald Trump does not have to fear any statements from the US Congress: it wants to stay out of the investigations into possible impeachment proceedings against him. "We have nothing to do with it," said Foreign Minister Wadym Prystajko. Statements of the Ukrainian government before US committees of inquiry he excludes. "We will not go there, we will not comment."

The opposition Democrats are currently examining whether there is enough evidence to justify Trump's impeachment. The Republican had encouraged new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj in a telephone conversation on 25 July to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter for alleged involvement in corruption. According to a US diplomat, Trump had made the announcement of such investigations a condition for military aid.

"I was worried about the call"

Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Vindman, the leading expert in the National Security Council for Ukraine, wants to announce on Tuesday the telephone conversation between the two presidents. "I was worried about the call," Vindman said in a preface statement that overheard the phone call. "I did not think it right to ask a foreign government to investigate a US citizen." There was a danger "that US national security would be undermined".

This week, there will be a plenary vote on the possible impeachment for the first time, announced the spokeswoman for the Chamber of Parliament, Nancy Pelosi, in a letter to MPs. Thus, the White House could no longer use the absence of a plenary decision as a "groundless" excuse to boycott the investigation, Pelosi said.

The vote will allow, inter alia, public hearings, as stated in Pelosis letter. In addition, the Judiciary Committee should play a greater role in the preparation of the actual vote on impeachment. The rights of the President and his lawyers in the proceedings should also be clarified.

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The most important thing about the Ukrainian affairThe Trump file

Only a few days ago, the Democrats had won a stage victory on the way to Trump's possible impeachment. A US federal judge upheld the legality of the investigation and ordered the government to produce an undecorated copy of Special Rapporteur Robert Mueller's report on the Russia affair.