President Donald Trump claimed Wednesday afternoon that the White House last month released an "exact transcript" of his July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, raising more questions about the still-unfolding scandal.
When the White House released on September 25 a readout of the conversation, it called the document a "memo," and many observers said it likely did not capture the full conversation. The whistleblower has also asserted that, in a break from the norm, the official transcript was put in a classified system.
Trump, speaking to press alongside Finnish President Sauli Niinistö Wednesday, said the transcription was done "by very, very talented people, word for word, comma for comma."
Let’s get the whole transcript! RT @atrupar: Trump says the Ukraine call memo released by the White House is "exact" and "word for word" -- even though it says on the very first page that it is not in fact a transcript pic.twitter.com/xbb5sHtu9d
— N Wyre (@nowyre) October 2, 2019
Journalist Natasha Bertrand, on Twitter, said that if it was in fact a "transcript" the White House released, it is "unclear why the White House wouldn't characterize it as such."
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Lawyer Neal Katya said the president's comments prompted questions including, "Where are the stenographer notes?"
So much wrong here, but note he’s now saying there were “stenographers” on July 25 Ukraine call who took it down word for word. That’s hugely significant.The memo they released was not a transcript. Where is it? Where are the stenographer notes?
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) October 2, 2019
Cong can subpoena stenographers... https://t.co/99NPDVzUvh
A day before the "off the rails" press conference, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) suggested parts of the conversation between Trump and Zelensky were not released.
"I had two staff members from my office the other day read it aloud. And we timed it," King told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "They read it in normal speaking pace. It took them 10 minutes and 40 seconds. The phone call was 30 minutes," he said, acknowledging that a translator may have accounted for some of the time.
