9 Questions From The Trump-Zelensky Memorandum

If one call can change your destiny, this could be the one for President Donald Trump: Right after a conversation he had on July 25, he’s facing a constitutional crisis the U.S. Has seen only three other times in its history. Yep, we’re talking about impeachment.


Throughout the now-infamous call, Trump asked Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. That ask came to light right after a whistle-blower filed a complaint about a potential act of treason at the President’s hands, which resulted in calls for impeachment from well over 170 Representatives. After a closed-door meeting between Democratic party leaders, those calls turned into real action as soon as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi officially filed a formal impeachment inquiry of the President on Tuesday (September 24).


The day right after Pelosi filed the impeachment inquiry, Trump released a memorandum of what was mentioned while in the call between himself and Zelensky. We read it, and we have some questions.


1. Why wasn’t there an exact transcript?


According to the Washington Post, this is just how the White Residence does firm. The last time the president recorded phone calls was throughout Richard Nixon’s presidency, which led to his downfall. Right now, politicians rely heavily on notetakers.


A transcript is a direct copy of a recorded call, however this memorandum isn’t that: Basically, notetakers were there throughout the conversation and took an informal report or message of the call. That indicates we don’t know every little thing that took place between Trump and Zelensky — we just know what the notetaker put down.


2. Why were there so several copy errors? 


Incomplete sentences are expected. Soon considering that, it is a telephone call, and people don’t generally speak the same way they write. However misspelling Zelensky? Misusing semicolons? Typing make sure while you surely mean assure? Literally make it make sense.


3. What does Crowdstrike have to do with any of this?


Crowdstrike was a cybersecurity firm that conducted an analysis of the hack of the Democratic National Committee throughout the 2016 election and noticed that the hack was at the hands of two groups connected to the Russian government. While in the call, Trump said: “I would like you to do us a favor though because our nation has been through a lot and Ukraine understands a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they mention Crowdstrike.”


It’s still pretty unclear why Trump was referencing the firm in the opening place, however he went on to add: “I guess you have one of your rich people… The server, they mention Ukraine has it. There really are a lot of things that went on, the entire situation. I think you’re surrounding yourself with some of the same people.”


4. Is Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personalized lawyer, even allowed to be involved here?


It’s not completely clear what, if anything, Giuliani did on Trump’s behalf. Zelensky first brought up Giuliani to Trump, telling him: “I will personally tell you that one of my assistants talked with Mr. Giuliani just recently and we are hoping very much that Mr. Giuliani will have the ability to travel to Ukraine and we'll meet if he comes to Ukraine.”


Trump then complimented the former mayor of New York City and asked Zelensky to work with Giuliani to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.


This is essential for a number of reasons: Namely that Giuliani hasn’t acted like a regular presidential lawyer. He’s been Trump’s friend, surrogate, confidant, and minder. More than that, though, is that Giuliani could get in a lot of criminal trouble for this conversation since he’s Trump’s personalized lawyer and doesn’t have governmental protections. NBC News points out that Giuliani would be in violation of the Logan Act, for trying to intervene without authorization in disputes between the U.S. And foreign governments. He’s also slipping into the potential of some serious federal criminal bribery and extortion conspiracy, NBC News reported.


For his own part, Giuliani told Fox and Friends on Wednesday (September 25) morning that the transcript was read to him and he’s pretty much cool with it.


5. What does the U.S. Attorney General William Barr have to do with all of this?


It’s unclear. What we do know is that Trump asked Zelensky to contact Barr about starting a potential corruption investigation of Biden and his son, right after Trump accused the former Vice President of using his position to help a Ukranian energy agency — the same agency that was paying Hunter Biden — by pushing to oust a Ukranian prosecutor, according to the New York Times. There’s currently no evidence that either Joe or Hunter did anything illegal.


“There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and also a lot of people wish to find out about that so whichever you could do with the Attorney General could be great,” Trump claimed. “Biden went around bragging that he stopped prosecution os in the event you can look into iot… it sounds horrible to me.”


Although, according to the New York Times, the Justice Department mentioned Wednesday (September 25) that Barr has never spoken with Trump about working with Ukraine to investigate the Bidens, that he had no idea Trump told Zelensky to contact him, and that he had never spoken with Giuliani about “anything related to Ukraine.”


6. Who is the former ambassador they seem to dislike so much?


“The former ambassador from the United States, the woman, was bad news and the people she was dealing with in Ukraine were bad news so I just hope to let you know that,” Trump mentioned on page 4 of the memorandum, referring to his former ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. According to the Washington Post, Yovanovich, who was outspoken about cracking down on corruption in Ukraine, was recalled just two months before her scheduled departure date — Democrats called it a “political hit job.” She had served in Republican and Democratic administrations and was the American ambassador to Ukraine for nearly three years, Foreign Policy reported.


Zelensky apparently also didn’t like Yovanovich: “It was fantastic that you were the initial one who notified me that she was a bad ambassador because I agree with you 100 percent,” Zelensky mentioned. “Her attitude towards me was far from the perfect as she fancied the previous President and she was on his side.”


7. Why all of the compliments?


Trump to Zelensky: “Congratulations on a fantastic victory. We all watched from the United States and also you did a terrific job… It’s an excellent achievement.”


Zelensky to Trump: “I also wanted to tell you that we are companions. We are excellent companions and you also Mr. President have companions in our nation so we can continue our tactical partnership.”


Zelensky to Trump: “We can either take my plane and go to Ukraine or we can take your plane, which is probably much better than mine.”


And, maybe the most egregious of those all, Zelensky told Trump that the last time he visited New York, he “stayed at the Trump Tower.”


8. Is it really, as Senator and former Trump adversary Lindsey Graham called it, a “nothing (non-quid pro quo) burger”?


Not really. Trump may have asked Zelensky to investigate the Bidens along with the 2016 DNC email hack, nevertheless he didn’t blatantly supply something in return. Although the Trump administration had been withholding nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine, neither Trump nor Zelensky said it while in the conversation.


Trump does say: “I would like you to do us a favor though,” soon after Zelensky thanks him for being a “bigger partner” than the European Union. Case in point, he reminds Zelensky about half a dozen times that the U.S. Has been “very, very good to Ukraine.” This is significant because Trump is known for speaking like a mob boss, and reinforcing to the Ukrainian government that Trump’s decisions, like whether or not to assist the nation, would be tied to how well they treat each other. It’s suggestive, to mention the least, that Trump talks about how wonderful the U.S. Is to Ukraine as he asks the Ukranian government to perform an investigation on his behalf.


9. Does this exonerate Trump?


Absolutely not.


Zelensky signs off saying: “I also hope to make sure you that we'll be very dedicated to the case and will work on the investigation.”


The Bidens have although to release a statement about the phone call or impeachment proceedings.