First, we have the critical transition where president Zelenski thanks President Trump for the military aid that was approved by Congress but was still being withheld by Trump. Trump follows that up immediately with the phrase “I would like you to do us a favor though” before suggesting that president Zelenski investigate Crowdstrike, whom Trump claims is involved in some sort of conspiracy with the democrats involving a server in Ukraine. This is a very peculiar fact considering that Crowdstrike is not only an American company located in Sunnyvale, California but the company also coincidentally has a contract with the National Republican Congressional Committee.

President Zelenski then follows up on trump’s request by dodding the question simply stating that he hoped that the Ukrainian Attorney general had the faith of President Trump, that all investigations would be done “openly and candidly”, and reiterated that Ukraine was an ally of the United States. Trump followed up on that statement by saying that the corrupt prosecutor that had been previously removed should be reinstated and that President Zelenski should work with Rudy Giuliani to begin an investigation into Joe Biden and his son. Let’s break that part down a bit more. First, Giuliani is not a government employee, and him engaging in negotiations with a foreign government on behalf of the US is simply not legal without being employed by the government. Second, the very suggestion that President Zelenski actively investigate one of Trump’s political opponents (Biden announced his campaign just 3 months prior) is itself against the law.

There are definitely more points to be made about the illegality of withholding congressionally allocated funds, the illegality of blanket ordering the entire executive staff to defy subpoenas, and the obvious crime of publicly asking China to interfere in our election, but this article is just about the transcript, and in some sense, I agree with the president; you should definitely read it because in truth the publication of this transcript was a damning admission of guilt. Trump knows this and is resorting once again to his strategy of saying that crimes aren’t crimes. Don't let him gaslight you, it's right there, in black and white.

Transcript: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Unclassified09.2019.pdf