Trump-Zelenskyy call
On September 25, 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the proposed ceasefire for the Russian-Ukrainian War. The ceasefire between Russian president Vladimir Putin and Zelenskky was put together by French president Emmanuel Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.[1] The call became notable for multiple reasons. The public information from the White House readout or record keeping of the monitored call from the U.S. perspective mentioned Zelenskyy's criticism of Macron and Merkel. It also became the premise for the Trump-Ukraine scandal, which in turn led to the first impeachment of Donald Trump, and was referred to in the 2025 Trump-Zelenskyy meeting by Zelenskyy
Background
[edit]In 2014, Russia had annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine[2] and had backed pro-Russian separatists fighting in the eastern region of the country.[3] On December 10, 2019, a ceasefire agreement was signed Zelenskyy, Putin, Macron and Merkel.
Controversy
[edit]On July 25, 2019, Zalenskyy had a telephone conversation about ceasefire agreement to U.S. President Trump. Trump mentioned criticism of Germany and Europe. To this, Zelenskyy replied:[4]
Yes, you are absolutely right. Not only 100%, but actually 1000% and I can tell you the following; I did talk to Angela Merkel and I did meet with her I also met and talked with Macron, and I told them that they are not doing quite as much as they need to be doing on the issues with the sanctions. They are not enforcing the sanctions. They are not working as much as they should work for Ukraine.
The transcript was later declassified by Trump on September 25, 2019.[4] This part of the conversation is mentioned by Zelenskyy in the 2025 Trump-Zelenskyy meeting for a proposed 2025 ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine,[5] for the expanded military conflict due to the Russia's invasion of Ukraine that had continued since 2022.[6] For President Trump and the U.S. Congress, the latter part of the same conversation became part of the foundations of the first impeachment of Donald Trump. The following statement was in the declassified transcript of this conversation. Zelenskyy had stated:[4]
We are ready to continue to cooperate for the next steps specifically we are almost. Ready to buy more Javelins from the United States for defense purposes.
To which President Trump replied:[a]
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. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike… I guess you have one of your wealthy people… The server, they say Ukraine has it. There are a lot of things that went on, the whole situation.
It was later reported that there was a conspiracy theory claiming that the prior Ukrainian government had used the cybersecurity company Crowdstrike to hack the Democratic Party computers in 2016 and blame Russia.[8]
The call transcript was reconstructed from the original call by means of notes and voice recognition software. There were ellipses of the White House transcript due to what could be words that had trailed off or were inaudible. However, a White House official would later state in testimony to impeachment investigators that some words and phrases were deliberately left out. According to testimony, what was deliberately removed was the following:[9]
- Trump asking about the existence of recordings of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. (the political opponent to Trump at that time).
- Zelensky mentioning Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company that had employed Biden's son Hunter as a board member of the corporation.
The first impeachment of Donald Trump was initiated due to the appearance of withholding military aid as a means of pressuring Zelensky to pursue investigations of Joe Biden and his son Hunter.[10][11]
Notes
[edit]- ^ This conversation took place the day after Robert Mueller had stated that the Mueller special counsel investigation into the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections found that Trump could only be prosecuted after leaving office for obstruction of justice.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ "For Ukraine's leader, Trump memo on their call is a diplomatic car cr…". archive.ph. 2025-03-10. Retrieved 2025-03-19.
- ^ IANS. "Ukraine Parliament declares Crimea temporarily occupied territory". Biharprabha News | Connecting Bihar with the entire World. Retrieved 2025-03-19.
- ^ "Report MH17 | Report | Public Prosecution Service". web.archive.org. 2023-03-23. Retrieved 2025-03-19.
- ^ a b c "Read Trump's phone conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky | CNN Politics". CNN. 2019-09-25. Retrieved 2025-03-19.
- ^ "What they said: Trump, Zelenskyy and Vance's heated argument in the Oval Office". AP News. 2025-02-28. Retrieved 2025-03-19.
- ^ Brands, Hal (2024-04-02). War in Ukraine: Conflict, Strategy, and the Return of a Fractured World. JHU Press. ISBN 978-1-4214-4985-2.
- ^ https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/454502-mueller-trump-could-be-charged-with-obstruction-of-justice-after/
- ^ Sullivan, Eileen (2019-09-25). "How CrowdStrike Became Part of Trump's Ukraine Call". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-03-19.
- ^ Times, The New York (2019-09-25). "Full Document: Trump's Call With the Ukrainian President". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-03-19.
- ^ Vindman, Alexander (2021-08-02). "What I Heard in the White House Basement". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2025-03-19.
- ^ Carter, Brandon (2019-09-26). "READ: House Intel Committee Releases Whistleblower Complaint On Trump-Ukraine Call". NPR. Retrieved 2025-03-19.
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