Trump is banking on Democrats overreaching on ‘Ukraine-Gate’

If President Donald Trump hoped the release of a memo detailing his July 25 telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was going to exculpate him from questions about misconduct in office, his hopes were dashed the moment the public read the transcript.   

Suspicions of Trump trading £323m ($400m) in military aid to Ukraine in return for Zelensky launching a corruption investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden have coloured this entire affair. If a quid pro-quo was offered, it would be a severe violation of the American people’s trust and a gross misuse of the president’s powers. That no such quid pro-quo was made explicit in the transcript gave Trump’s defenders on Capitol Hill and cable TV a defence to run with as the days go by, however weak.

And the conversation was also a goldmine for Democrats. Surely, they will ask, it wasn’t a coincidence that Trump pivoted immediately to asking for a “favour” after reminding Zelensky about how great Washington has been to the Ukrainians.