Trump says he’ll release transcript of Ukraine phone call on Wednesday

Facing Democrats’ rising calls for impeachment, President Trump announced Tuesday that he will release a transcript of his phone call with the president of Ukraine in which he discussed Democratic frontrunner Joseph R. Biden and his son.

Mr. Trump tweeted that he’ll release on Wednesday a “complete, fully declassified and unredacted transcript” of his July 25 phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“You will see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “No pressure and, unlike Joe Biden and his son, NO quid pro quo! This is nothing more than a continuation of the Greatest and most Destructive Witch Hunt of all time!”

The president’s announcement came just minutes before Mr. Biden faced reporters to call on Mr. Trump to release details of the conversation. The former vice president also planned to address impeachment.

It also came about two hours before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was scheduled to make an announcement about impeachment proceedings.

Immediately after Mr. Trump’s announcement, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York said the transcript isn’t enough. He demanded that the administration turn over to Congress a whistleblower’s complaint related to the episode.

“We need the complaint,” Mr. Schumer said. “It’s nice to have the transcript — we don’t even know right now if the complaint is about the transcript, in part or in whole, and without the complaint we don’t know what the [inspector general of intelligence agencies] thought was so urgent. We do not know what the whistleblower thought was so urgent.”

Mr. Schumer added, “So simply to release the transcript is not going to come close to ending the need of the American public and the Congress to see what actually happened.”

“And by the way, when they say fully declassified, I’m not quite sure what that means,” the lawmaker said. “Does that mean they get to determine what is classified and what is not classified, or is it the full transcript, period? We don’t know the answer to that, either.”