Trump pushed Ukraine to investigate Biden, transcript shows

President Donald Trump during a phone call pushed his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymr Zelensky to work with the US attorney general to investigate the conduct of Democratic political rival Joe Biden, according to a transcript of the conversation that is now at the centre of Democrats' impeachment probe.

The White House on Wednesday released details of the phone call between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart.

It shows Trump asked Zelensky on 25 July to investigate Democratic candidate Biden, a former US vice president. Biden's son worked for a Ukrainian gas firm.

A redacted version of the transcripts of the July 25 telephonic conversation was released by the White House in a memo format.

"There's a lot 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 was quoted as saying.

"Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you ·can look into it ... It sounds horrible to me," said the US president as per the memo.

Zelensky said that the issue of the investigation of the case is actually the issue of making sure to restore the honest.

"So, we will take care of that and will work on the investigation of the case," the Ukrainian leader said and asked for additional information from the US president.

During the call, Trump asked Zelensky to work with US Attorney General William Barr and Trump's personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, to look into the matter, according to the notes.

"I will have Mr Giuliani give you a call and I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call and we will get to the bottom of it. I'm sure you will figure it out," Trump said as per the memo, which notes that this is not a verbatim of the telephonic conversation.

The July call occurred days after Trump directed the US government to withhold about USD 391 million in military aid to Ukraine.

Trump denies withholding US military aid to Ukraine as leverage in a bid to smear his political rival, Biden.

There is no discussion of that money in the memorandum released by the White House.

The release of the transcript comes a day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared the President had betrayed his oath of office and announced she is opening a formal impeachment inquiry.

The transcript, which a senior White House official said was developed with assistance from voice recognition software along with note takers and experts listening, will likely amplify the Democratic impeachment effort, CNN said.

"The release of the notes of the call by the White House confirms that the president engaged in behaviour that undermines the integrity of our elections, the dignity of the office he holds and our national security. The president has tried to make lawlessness a virtue in America and now is exporting it abroad,”  Pelosi said.

"The transcript and the Justice Department's acting in a rogue fashion in being complicit in the president's lawlessness confirm the need for an impeachment inquiry. Clearly, the Congress must act," Pelosi said.

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said that the memo shows Trump pressured a foreign government to work with the US Attorney General to investigate a political opponent.

"He is putting himself above his country. His personal interests above our national interests. His actions are disloyal to America, unpatriotic, and potentially illegal,” she said.

The controversy arose after a whistleblower from within the US intelligence community filed a complaint with an internal watchdog about  Trump's conversation with Zelenskiy.

Reacting to the controversy on Wednesday morning at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, Trump said it was the "single greatest witch hunt in American history".

"The way you had that built up that call, it was going to be the call from hell," Trump said. "It turned out to be a nothing call."

Referring to Pelosi, Trump said, "She is wasting her time on a manufactured crisis."

"All they are talking about is nonsense," he added.