Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky says he was upset at Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the Eastern European country is corrupt and even asked the United States leader to stop saying that it is.
Zelensky opened up with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour for the first one-on-one interview since Trump was impeached by the House and acquitted by the Senate.
Trump and Zelensky’s interactions were the focus of the impeachment trial, particularly the July 25 phone call during which Trump asked the Ukrainian president to investigate Burisma and the Bidens. Trump has repeatedly said that his phone call with Zelensky was without flaw, and that he wasn’t working to benefit himself, but to help eliminate corruption in the U.S. and Ukraine.
But Zelensky says that he takes issue with his country being called corrupt. As Amanpour pointed out, Trump once said that Ukraine is the third-most corrupt country on the planet.