Democratic senator: Ukrainian president said he has ‘no intention’ to interfere with US election

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said on Sunday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told him that he has no intention to interfere in U.S. elections amid allegations that President Trump pushed him for dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden. 

“I went here to make it clear to him, that the worst thing that he could do for the U.S.-Ukraine relationship is to get involved in an election here in the United States,” Murphy said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” referring to a recent trip to Kiev. 

Murphy said Zelensky “dispensed the diplomatic protocols” of the meeting as soon as he sat down, and said he was concerned about U.S. aid being withheld. {mosads}

“And then later in the meeting, I raised with him these overtures from the Trump campaign. He gave me a very strong answer. He said they have no intention of getting involved in an American election, that they knew what damage it would do to them,” Murphy said.  

“And I left that meeting fairly confident that he understood.”

A whistleblower filed a complaint that reportedly alleges Trump asked Ukrainian leaders to investigate Biden, his political rival. No evidence has emerged to suggest Biden acted with his son’s interests in mind in regards to his dealings with Ukraine.

Trump denies he made the request on the call, but the White House has refused to release a copy of the whistleblower complaint or a transcript of the call. 

“Do you have any reason to believe that the aid was suddenly released in connection with the discovery of the whistleblower complaint to the public?” NBC host Chuck Todd asked Murphy on Sunday. 

“I mean, the timing is obviously incredibly suspicious,” Murphy responded. 

“There was also a pending vote in the appropriations committee that was going to require next year’s aid to be released outside of the discretion of the president. There are likely a bunch of different explanation, political pressure was mounting on the president from republicans, but obviously the timing of this looks really terrible.”