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IPFS News Link • Trump Administration

Ukraine and Whistle-Blower Issues Emerge as Major Flashpoints in Presidential Race

• Lisa Lerer and Reid J. Epstein

Allegations that President Trump courted foreign interference from Ukraine to hurt his leading Democratic rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr., dominated presidential politics on Saturday, as Mr. Biden demanded a House investigation of Mr. Trump's phone call with Ukraine's leader and as Mr. Trump lashed out, denying wrongdoing without releasing a transcript of the call.

With Mr. Trump seizing on a familiar defense, saying Democrats were undertaking a "witch hunt" against him, Mr. Biden called on the House of Representatives to begin a new investigation of whether the president sought the interference of a foreign government to bolster his re-election campaign.

"This appears to be an overwhelming abuse of power," Mr. Biden said during a campaign swing in Iowa. "We have never seen anything like this from any president."

Mr. Trump is said to have urged the Ukranian president on a July 25 phone call to investigate Mr. Biden's son, Hunter Biden, who did business in Ukraine while his father was vice president. Mr. Trump's request is part of a secret whistle-blower complaint in the intelligence community that is said to involve Mr. Trump making an unspecified commitment to a foreign leader, according to two people familiar with the complaint.


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