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Some senior administration officials are urging President Trump to publish the transcript of a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is at the center of a growing controversy over whistleblowing.
These officials believe the public disclosure of what was said during the conference call would quash accusations that Trump broke the law or acted abusively by urging Zelensky to investigate the son of his rival, Joe Biden. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had asked Zelensky "about eight times" to help his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to investigate Hunter Biden's case.
Officials believe that the publication of the transcript would definitely show that Trump has not done anything illegal. Opponents of the president, determined to use the issue to demand his indictment, could still argue that he had acted inappropriately, but disclosure of the specific words of the president would make it more difficult for critics to claim that Trump had done wrong.
Officials also believe that the public should be aware of the circumstances surrounding the whistleblower complaint. The complaint is hearsay; the author did not have direct knowledge of the content of the complaint but rather heard from someone else. The fact of being hearsay does not totally invalidate a complaint, but some officials believe that it weakens the case of the alleged whistleblower.
In the end, officials believe that the publication of the transcript would be in the interest of President Trump.
There are also government officials who oppose public release. The content of the president's conversation with Zelensky, like all presidential conversations with foreign leaders, is privileged. Small portions could also be classified. Opponents of the publication said that if Trump-Zelensky's transcript were made public, foreign leaders could have no confidence that their talks with Trump would be confidential.
The whistleblower controversy is about a decision by the director of national intelligence not to forward the whistleblower's complaint to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. The inspector general of the intelligence sector, who received the complaint in the first place, found it legitimate and forwarded it to the director's office. The law directs that the complaint be forwarded to Congress. But acting director Joseph Maguire consulted with the Department of Justice, who ruled that the complaint did not meet the disclosure standards imposed on legislators. An impasse still unresolved ensues.
Democrats demand that the complaint be returned. Some Democrats and NeverTrumpers who already supported the president's dismissal immediately added the whistleblower complaint to the list of reasons why Trump should be removed from office. The subject took hours on the news of the cable.
The controversy erupted even though no one knows exactly what Trump and Zelensky said. In the absence of real knowledge, an informed debate about the call is impossible. This is one of the reasons why some members of the administration want the transcript to be made public.
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