Trump admits discussing Biden with Ukraine president

WASHINGTON: While Democrats stepped up calls for impeachment, President Donald Trump directly acknowledged Sunday that he spoke with the president of Ukraine about an investigation into political opponent Joe Biden, but called the talk appropriate.

Speaking with reporters en route to a trip to Texas and Ohio, Trump said: "The conversation I had was largely congratulatory, was largely corruption – all of the corruption taking place – it was largely the fact that we don't want our people like Vice President Biden and his son creating to the corruption already in the Ukraine," reports the US media.

In statements and tweets in recent days, Trump implied that Biden was a subject of the call with the Ukraine leader; Sunday was his first direct acknowledgement, as pointed out by a number of lawmakers.

Members of Congress called for more details on a complaint by a whistleblower who said that, in a July phone call, Trump pressured Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to have his government investigate Biden and his son.

Biden, whose son Hunter had business interests in Ukraine, said Trump was using his job as president to get a foreign government to dig for dirt on a political rival.

“He’s doing this because he knows I’ll beat him like a drum," Biden told reporters on Saturday. "And he’s using an abuse of power and every element of the presidency to try to smear me."

Democratic lawmakers said the incident may well increase calls for impeachment of Trump, who is being probed for his actions regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election.