Mark Levin blasts media narrative of Trump-Ukraine transcript
Mark Levin blasts media narrative of Trump-Ukraine transcript
Mark Levin dismissed the media's narrative that President Trump tried to cover up a quid pro quo with Ukraine in order to damage former Vice President Joe Biden.
Levin, in the latest episode of "Life, Liberty & Levin," claimed the plain text of the transcript disproves the existence of such a deal between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Levin also claimed that even though no past president has ever released such a transcript in a similar situation -- as Trump did -- the media still claims he is trying to "cover up" unethical or illegal behavior. The host rejected the claim the White House keeping the transcript on a "secured server" was proof he was trying to hide an inappropriate act.
"Folks, do you understand the president of the United States could just say he's covering this [up] by executive privilege and it would never see the light of day?" he asked.
"There is not a court in America that would overturn his decision, given that this is a discussion between one president to another president.
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"It doesn't matter if he had it on a secured server or not. He could have it under his mattress if he wanted to."
Levin then claimed the president has the constitutional authority to keep accounts of conversations with foreign leaders private and that such decisions are within his constitutionally delegated power to conduct foreign policy on behalf of the United States.
He said Trump released the transcript for the simple reason that it "exonerates" him from Democrats' claims that he committed impeachable offenses.
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Mimicking the media's reporting, Levin later remarked: "'Oh my God -- he mentioned Biden eight to nine times.' No, he didn't. 'Oh, there's a quid pro quo.' No there wasn't -- remember all that reporting?"
He then read from Trump's comments in the transcript text -- which he held up to the camera:
"'I would like you to do us a favor' -- and this is where the left and the media -- the Democrats, all the same -- get 'a favor.' The president said, 'Do me a favor [and] get dirt on Biden?'
"No, he didn't say that," Levin said, contending the president's comments were more to the effect of: 'I would like you to do us a favor because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.'"
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To Levin, the president simply wanted to have Ukraine help investigate foreign influence in the 2016 election.
Levin paused before returning to the topic of the media's coverage, claiming outlets have the essence of the transcript completely wrong and noting that Democrats have tried to tie the word "favor" to Biden and his son Hunter.
"There is no link of the word 'favor' with Biden," Levin claimed, calling that part of the exchange with Zelensky a "nothing statement."