Consequences of Ukrainegate

By Hanif Ghaffari

The hidden aspects of Trump and Zelenskiy’s call are being exposed. Although the U.S. president claims that he had a regular conversation with Zelenskiy on case of Biden’s son in Ukraine, but evidence suggests that the White House has been negotiating with Ukrainian officials about 2020 presidential election! Of course it is a little complicated! The Washington Post reported that Trump ordered interim White House Chief of Staff to suspend $ 400 million military aid to Ukraine shortly before his controversial call with the Ukrainian president.

 Following the action, the U.S. president immediately called Zelenskiy and asked him to investigate the corruption case of Biden and his son. He asked Zelenskiy to carry out investigation several times. In other words, Trump send this message to Zelenskiy that offering military aid to Kiev by Washington depends on Kiev’s cooperation with the White House in case of Biden. 

This matter was not supposed to be exposed, but U.S. security agencies, many of whom oppose Trump’s presence in the White House, have released details. Another point is that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was not involved in Trump’s decision about consultation with Zelenskiy regarding Biden’s case. The U.S. secretary of state believes that this action was too amateurish and was considered a kind of reward for the Democratic Party to impeach Trump or even make him to resign.

Although Zelenskiy denied Washington’s pressure on Kiev on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting, but confirmed that Trump called him about his rival candidate. Now, there are extensive and behind-the-scenes consultations between senior Democratic Party officials and traditional Republicans on how to deal with Trump’s new scandal. The latest news reveals that Democrats intend to pursue the case to make Trump resign. Some Democratic leaders also believe this case could be as a winning card against Trump in next year’s presidential election. They argue that given a lack of support by 67 Senators for Trump’s impeachment, it is better for Democrats to use the case as a bargaining chip on Trump’s campaign instead of investing on his impeachment or resignation. 

On the other hand, some Republican leaders believe that the recent scandal will leave no chance for Trump in future election. They suppose that in such circumstances, it is necessary to be ready to probably vote Trump out in the 2020 presidential election. They believe Trump should be pressured to step down as president or not contest the election, although the U.S. president will strongly oppose it. Anyway, we will observe the intensification of political disputes in the U.S. over Ukrainegate in the next few days. It would leave the fate of the controversial U.S. president in a state of uncertainty.