Transcript confirms Trump asked Ukraine leader to investigate Biden

The White House released a call transcript Wednesday confirming Donald Trump asked his Ukrainian counterpart to probe his political rival Joe Biden -- a day after Democrats seized on the explosive allegation to launch an impeachment process.

Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden makes a statement on Ukraine corruption during a press conference at the Hotel Du Pont on September 24, 2019, in Wilmington, Delaware. [Photo: AFP]

"There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great," Trump told Volodymyr Zelensky in the July 25 call.

As Barack Obama's vice president, Biden and other Western leaders pressured Ukraine to get rid of the country's top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, because he was seen as not tough enough on corruption.

"Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it," Trump said.

The five-page document -- a summary of the call rather than a word-for-word record -- was released as Trump was preparing to meet Zelensky on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Democrats, who opened formal impeachment proceedings against the president on Tuesday, are investigating whether he pressured a foreign government to look into a political opponent, and if he used a $400 million aid package as leverage. There was no mention of the money in the summary.

The July 25 phone call was among the subjects in a whistleblower complaint that has so far not been made available to lawmakers.

The White House had previously blocked the legally required release of the complaint to Congress' intelligence committees.

Lawyers representing the whistleblower said in a statement on Tuesday that there had been a "decision to release the whistleblower complaint," but did not provide further details.