House

Pelosi signals Ukraine allegations don’t need quid pro quo to be wrong

by Cristina Marcos - 09/24/19 3:11 PM ET

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Tuesday that the transcript of President Trump’s call with Ukraine’s leader doesn’t need to show a “quid pro quo” in withholding military aid in order for the president’s actions to be considered wrong.

“If the president brings up, he wants them to investigate something of his political opponent, that is self-evident that it is not right. We don’t ask foreign governments to help us in our elections,” Pelosi said at the Atlantic Festival. “There is no requirement there be a quid pro quo in the conversation.”

{mosads}Pelosi said the allegations, if true, would be “wrong.”

Despite a follow-up question from interviewer Jeffrey Goldberg, Pelosi declined to specifically say if they would be impeachable.

Without offering specifics, Pelosi noted that there are other subjects that are under investigation as potentially impeachable offenses. But she said that the latest controversy, that Trump reportedly pressed the Ukrainian government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a potential 2020 rival, “is one is the most understandable by the public.”

Pelosi declined to say at the event if she now backs impeachment, after resisting formally endorsing it for months.

But Pelosi is expected to make an announcement after a 4 p.m. meeting with the Democratic Caucus as dozens of rank-and-file members, including many in swing districts who had been resistant to impeachment, have announced their support in the wake of the latest allegations against Trump.

Moments before Pelosi spoke, Trump announced that he will release the “unredacted transcript” of his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump has acknowledged that he spoke to Zelensky about Biden and corruption, and that military aid to Ukraine was held back before the call.

The president on Tuesday said he had held back the aid because he wanted European countries to commit to helping Ukraine so that the burden did not fall solely on the United States. He has said there was nothing improper in his call and the release of the transcript will show this.

A whistleblower within the administration made a complaint about the call, but the complaint has been withheld from Congress. It is not clear if the administration will allow lawmakers to see that complaint.

Tags Donald Trump Impeachment Joe Biden military aid Nancy Pelosi Ukraine Ukraine call