'Raises Lots Of Questions & Doesn't Answer Them': Reactions Split On Trump-Ukraine Call Summary
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Reaction to the summary of the call between President Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president is split.
That includes members of Congress from Minnesota.
The call summary in question says on the front that it is "not a verbatim transcript." It does quote the president as telling the Ukraine president, "I would like you to do us a favor." Later, President Trump says, "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 that would be great."
Claims of wrongdoing by former Vice President Joe Biden and his son have never been substantiated, and the Justice Department says the president never contacted Attorney General William Barr. The call summary is fueling arguments for both sides.
"My first reaction to the memo is that it raises lots of questions and doesn't answer them," political analyst and professor David Schultz said.
Critics of the president say it goes further than that.
"This transcript is the smoking gun," Rep. Ilhan Omar said.
Congresswoman Omar has been calling for impeachment of the president for months. She is on the Foreign Affairs Committee, one of six House committees Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered to continue their investigations under the umbrella of impeachment.
"We are clearly watching a president solicit the help of a foreign country to dig up dirt on a potential presidential opponent," Omar said.
Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips is one of a handful of Democrats, who in 2018, flipped a Congressional district from red to blue and who now openly supports an impeachment inquiry. He says he knows what is at stake.
"I don't care if I serve one term in Congress and do my job with the Constitution foremost on my mind and the rule of law. I will retire or go on my way, recognizing I did the right thing," Phillips said.
Minnesota's three Republican members of Congress were quiet Wednesday. WCCO reached out to Congressmen Emmer, Hagedorn and Stauber and did not hear back.
Congressman Emmer released a statement Tuesday saying, "Democrats have lost their sanity."
