President Trump on Thursday denied a report that he asked Attorney General William Barr to publicly absolve him of any wrongdoing in the July call in which he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesnky to investigate a 2020 political rival.
But Barr refused Trump’s request to hold a news conference, the Washington Post first reported late Wednesday.
“Bill Barr did not decline my request to talk about Ukraine. The story was a Fake Washington Post con job with an ‘anonymous’ source that doesn’t exist. Just read the Transcript,” Trump wrote in a tweet. “The Justice Department already ruled that the call was good. We don’t have freedom of the press!”
Since the Washington Post’s report, other news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, have confirmed the development, citing anonymous sources.
A little more than an hour later, Trump once again blasted the Washington Post.
“The degenerate Washington Post MADE UP the story about me asking Bill Barr to hold a news conference. Never happened, and there were no sources!” Trump posted.
The July 25 phone call in which Trump sought Zelensky to open an investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is at the heart of the House’s impeachment inquiry.
Democrats claim Trump held up nearly $400 million in critical military aid to Ukraine to coerce Zelensky to begin the probe.
Trump has called his conversation with Zelensky “perfect” and “appropriate.”
A whistleblower’s complaint revealed the call between the leaders and the White House then released a rough transcript of Trump’s conversation with Zelensky on Sept. 25.
The Justice Department evaluated the transcript and concluded that no campaign finance laws had been violated.
Trump, according to the readout, told Zelensky that he should work with Barr and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani in the investigation against Biden.
A Justice Department spokeswoman said at the time that the attorney general was unaware Trump raised his name in the conversation.
“The President has not spoken with the Attorney General about having Ukraine investigate anything relating to former Vice President Biden or his son,” spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement.