Report: White House Debates Whether to Let Democrats ‘Pick Apart’ Pence Phone Call with Ukraine’s Zelensky

The White House is reportedly debating whether to let Democrats “pick apart” the transcript of Vice President Mike Pence’s telephone call with the leader of Ukraine as an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump enters a new phase.

Speaking to reporters earlier this month, Pence said he had no issue with details of the call being released publicly.

“I’d have no objection to that, we’re discussing that with White House counsel as we speak,” the vice president said after wrapping up remarks to supporters at Manning Farms in Des Moines, Iowa.

Roughly three weeks after Pence’s remarks, the White House is still weighing the pros and cons to releasing the call, according to NBC News:

One concern raised by some of Trump’s allies is that releasing his call with Zelenskiy was a mistake because it fueled the impeachment inquiry rather than tamp it down, these people said. Another is that a comparison of Pence and Trump’s calls with Zelenskiy could potentially make the president’s self-described “perfect” conversation appear significantly less so.

“The media, Democrats are going to pick it apart,” one of the sources said. “So there’s a concern about that.”

…

Some people close to the president have argued that publishing detailed notes from conversations with world leaders also sets a problematic precedent by watering down the strength of exerting executive privilege and opening up the administration to even more scrutiny.

Meanwhile, Pence has repeatedly affirmed that his contacts with Ukraine officials have been “entirely focused on the broader issues of the lack of European support and corruption.” A readout of Pence’s September call with Zelensky shows the vice president praising Ukraine’s president for his administration’s “bold action to tackle corruption through legislative reforms, and offered full U.S. support for those efforts.”

President Trump’s July 25th call with Zelensky lays at the center of the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry launched last month. House Democrats accuse President Trump of pressuring the Ukrainian president into investigating allegations of corruption against former vice president and 2020 White House contender Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. Zelensky has repeatedly denied feeling any heat to look into the Biden family. The White House has also released the Trump-Zelensky transcript to demonstrate no wrongdoing occurred.

“There was no blackmail,” Zelensky recently told reporters. “We are not servants. We are an independent country.”