After President Trump promised the transcript of his call with Ukraine's president would show they had a "totally appropriate" conversation, Democrats were stunned to read it for themselves.
The transcript released Wednesday by the White House, which is not a verbatim account of the conversation, shows that Trump pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, referring to this as a "favor" and urging him to do so with Attorney General William Barr.
Politico's Jake Sherman offered a quick read of how Democrats are reacting, writing that they're "absolutely gobsmacked" the White House actually put it out at all.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Among those sharing that reaction was Jon Favreau, speechwriter for former President Barack Obama, who wrote that the memorandum is "actually much worse for Trump than I thought." He also responded to Sherman's tweet, writing, "My mouth has been hanging open for the last five minutes."
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.