Internal White House debate stifles release of Pence-Zelenskiy call

Source: nbc


Nearly three weeks after the vice president said he had "no objection" to releasing a transcript, administration is divided on whether it could help or hurt Trump's cause.

Oct. 29, 2019, 3:44 AM CDT


WASHINGTON — It’s been almost three weeks since Vice President Mike Pence said he had “no objection” to releasing a reconstructed transcript of his phone call with the leader of Ukraine. But as House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry continues moving swiftly into its second month, the White House still has not made a decision on whether to make those details of Pence’s call public.

The internal debate has divided White House officials over whether releasing the call would help or hurt their flailing efforts to counter accusations that President Donald Trump held up military aid to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate his political rivals, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

One concern raised by some of Trump’s allies is that releasing his call with Zelenskiy was a mistake because it fueled the impeachment inquiry rather than tamp it down, these people said. Another is that a comparison of Pence and Trump’s calls with Zelenskiy could potentially make the president’s self-described “perfect” conversation appear significantly less so.

“The media, Democrats are going to pick it apart,” one of the sources said. “So there’s a concern about that.”.............................

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/internal-white-house-debate-stifles-release-pence-zelenskiy-call-n1073091?cid=public-rss_20191029