Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly told U.S. Senator Chris Murphy that he has no plans to interfere in U.S. elections. While Zelensky didn’t refute claims that he had spoken with Donald Trump about investigating his political opponent in the 2020 presidential election, he claimed, after expressing concern about aid being withheld from the country, that he intended to stay out of the election.
According to The Hill , Murphy made a recent trip to Kiev where he spoke with the Ukrainian president about the controversy over his reported phone call with Trump on July 25.
“I went here to make it clear to him, that the worst thing that he could do for the U.S.-Ukraine relationship is to get involved in an election here in the United States,” Murphy said on Sunday.
Murphy said that Zelensky was clearly concerned about the ability for his country to obtain aid from the U.S. and spoke openly with him about the situation. Murphy says that he addressed the whistleblower controversy with the Ukrainian leader.
“And then later in the meeting, I raised with him these overtures from the Trump campaign. He gave me a very strong answer. He said they have no intention of getting involved in an American election, that they knew what damage it would do to them,” Murphy said.
The Democratic senator added that he felt “confident” that Zelensky understood what was at stake for the country.
The meeting comes days after it was revealed that Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani may have had a conversation with Zelensky on July 25, during which the president urged the Ukrainian leader to investigate Joe Biden in order to damage the former vice president’s campaign for the Oval Office.
Reportedly, the president promised to release $250 million in withheld aid if Zelensky would investigate Biden. That money has since been released.
An individual aware of the conversation felt that it constituted a threat to national interest and reported the phone call. Trump denies that anything inappropriate was said on the call, and has said that the whistleblower’s report is a political attack against him.
As The Inquisitr previously reported, Giuliani admitted that he had pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate Biden and his son Hunter’s business dealings in the country.
When asked if he had indeed done what was claimed — after initially denying that he had — Giuliani defiantly admitted that he did in an appearance on CNN.
“Of course I did,” Giuliani claimed.
When Murphy was asked on Sunday if he thought the timing of the aid’s release seemed suspect, the Democratic Senator confirmed that it did.
“I mean, the timing is obviously incredibly suspicious,” Murphy said.
