Source: www.spokesman.com - Thursday, September 26, 2019
KYIV, Ukraine – The White House annoyed and embarrassed Ukraine’s president by releasing his comments in a private conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump – and may have violated the Ukrainian constitution too. The rough transcript of Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy released Wednesday shows that Trump pressed Ukraine to “look into” his Democratic political rival Joe Biden. The July 25 call is now at the center of a U.S. impeachment probe. “I think such things, such conversations between heads of independent states, they shouldn’t be published,” Zelenskiy told reporters at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. He didn’t indicate whether the White House warned him that his comments would be released. But he also said he’s “not afraid” of the publication and that “no one can pressure me.” He sought to play down the investigation into Biden and his son’s activities in Ukraine, calling it just one of “many cases that I talk about with leaders of other countries.” Ukrainian legal expert Roman Marchenko said the release could have violated the Ukrainian constitution’s privacy protections. “According to Ukrainian law, if approval for publication wasn’t given by the Ukrainian side, then there is a criminal responsibility for violation for the privacy of correspondence and phone calls,” Marchenko told The Associated Press. “What Trump did (in publishing the transrcripts) is a violation of Ukrainian laws.”
Source: Breaking News
KYIV, Ukraine – The White House annoyed and embarrassed Ukraine’s president by releasing his comments in a private conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump – and may have violated the Ukrainian constitution too. The rough transcript of Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy released Wednesday shows that Trump pressed Ukraine to “look into” his Democratic political rival Joe Biden. The July 25 call is now at the center of a U.S. impeachment probe. “I think such things, such conversations between heads of independent states, they shouldn’t be published,” Zelenskiy told reporters at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. He didn’t indicate whether the White House warned him that his comments would be released. But he also said he’s “not afraid” of the publication and that “no one can pressure me.” He sought to play down the investigation into Biden and his son’s activities in Ukraine, calling it just one of “many cases that I talk about with leaders of other countries.” Ukrainian legal expert Roman Marchenko said the release could have violated the Ukrainian constitution’s privacy protections. “According to Ukrainian law, if approval for publication wasn’t given by the Ukrainian side, then there is a criminal responsibility for violation for the privacy of correspondence and phone calls,” Marchenko told The Associated Press. “What Trump did (in publishing the transrcripts) is a violation of Ukrainian laws.”
Source: Breaking News
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