President Trump released the transcript of his July 25th phone conversation with Ukrainian President Voldymor Zelensky in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launch an impeachment inquiry over allegations by an intelligence official the Trump Administration had threatened to withhold military aid to Ukraine unless they would investigate Biden.
Trump has falsely asserted that Biden got Viktor Shokin, the country's prosecutor fired in 2016 to protect the business interests of his son, Hunter. The younger Biden did sit on the board of Burisma Holdings which was owned by Mykola Zlochevsky. While his presence on the board while father was Vice-President gives the appearance of impropriety, Biden called for Shokin's resignation because he was being too lenient towards Zlochevsky and others. There's no indication Hunter Biden was ever a target of an investigation, but if he were his father's intervention would not have helped him.
The transcript confirms that Trump asked Zelensky to investigate Biden, but no mention of military aid is made in the conversation. However, it was Trump who brought Biden into the conversation:
The other thing. There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it ... It sounds horrible to me.
After Zelensky asked Trump to provide his incoming prosecutor additional information, Trump replied that he would have his attorney Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr get in touch with him. Trump added, "I heard the prosecutor was treated very badly and he was a very fair prosecutor."
Shokin was anything but fair. To the contrary, Shokin was quite ineffective in battling corruption and his removal was demanded not only by the United States, but the rest of the G-7 and IMF Chrstine Lagarde advocated for his removal. Biden did some bragging, but it wasn't about stopping the prosecution. It must also be remembered that Shokin was a reviled public figure in Ukraine and was subject to protests due to his ineffectual response to corruption. Biden was far from alone in his dismay with Shokin. Trump's assertion that Biden acted in an unlawful manner is yet another lie. But this particular lie is an impeachable one. While I believe Trump calling on a foreign government to investigate the man he could possibly face in next year's presidential election is an impeachable offense, there is no way Mitch McConnell led Senate is going to impeach Trump regardless of the merits.
The question now isn't so much about Trump, but rather about Biden's Democratic rivals. They'll all condemn Trump for the phone conversation, but will they defend Biden? Methinks not (save perhaps for Buttigieg). But if Biden's rivals take aim at him concerning his actions against Shokin all he has to do is say that they are doing Trump's bidding and sound more like Fox News or Breitbart than a Democratic presidential candidate. If that doesn't rally the Democratic Party around Biden then nothing will.
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