Pence Publicly Claims Transcript “Completely Vindicates” Trump But Had Earlier Warned Him Not To Release It

The Hill reports:

Vice President Mike Pence urged President Trump not to release a memo detailing his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week amid a scandal over Trump’s efforts to persuade the Ukraine leader to direct an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Pence fell in line and ultimately supported the report’s public release, but privately counseled Trump against the matter when it was first raised. The White House eventually released the rough transcript, according to the Journal, because Trump felt that Republicans were losing the messaging battle in the press.

Pence argued Thursday that the readout of Trump’s call with Zelensky “completely vindicated” the president, whose allies have argued that Trump never sought to tie an investigation into Biden to a concrete promise of U.S. aid during his conversations with Ukrainian officials.