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Trump hopes he won’t have to publish transcripts of talks with other leaders

WASHINGTON, October 3. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday expressed hope that he will not have to publish transcripts of his phone calls with other leaders, as he had to do in the case of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.

"When I heard these horrible stories come out, I had no choice but to release a conversation - which I hate to do, and I hope I don’t have to do it again - with the leader of a country," he said before talks with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto.

The US leader once again rejected claims that he demanded the Ukrainian leader to hold an investigation against the son of former US vice president Joe Biden in exchange for financial and military aid to Ukraine.

"And I think he said seven or eight times: "quid pro…" - in other words, "You’re going to that or we’re not going to give you money. You’re going to do this or we’re not going to…" I never said it," Trump said.

He went on to say that he asked his administration staff to contact Ukrainian officials and seek their permission for publishing the transcript.

"I asked a certain person to call up a certain person in that country to get permission to do it; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. And if I didn’t do it -- and I appreciate Ukraine for allowing us to release the conversation," the US president said.

The claims that Trump had exerted pressure on Zelensky to persuade Kiev to indirectly help him secure re-election for a second term in 2020 sparked a scandal in Washington. Trump’s opponents alleged that the US leader sought to exert pressure on Zelensky in order to launch an investigation against Hunter Biden, whose father, former US Vice President Josef Biden, is now Trump’s most probable rival in the 2020 upcoming presidential election. The Democratic Party-controlled House of Representatives used the suspicion to launch impeachment procedures against Trump.

Last week, the White House released a transcript of July’s conversation between the two leaders. It turned out that Trump by no means urged Zelensky to order an investigation of Hunter Biden in exchange for Washington’s financial and military assistance to Kiev. The US Department of Justice has found that last July’s Trump-Zelensky conversation contained nothing that might constitute a violation of the national legislation or any reasons for further investigation or other action.

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