US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called the grounds for his impeachment laid out by Democrats "a joke," after he was accused of pressuring his Ukrainian counterpart for domestic political reasons.
"When they look at the information, it's a joke. Impeachment for that?" Mr Trump told a news conference in New York after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the launch of impeachment proceedings on Tuesday.
Mr Trump also promised transparency over a whistleblower whose complaints triggered the probe into whether the US leader urged Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate rival Joe Biden.
"I've informed them - all of the House members - that I fully support transparency on the so-called whistleblower information, even though it was supposedly second-hand information," Mr Trump said.
Mr Trump's comments came on the day he was forced to release a call transcript showing a conversation he had with Mr Zelensky on 25 July.
Senator Chuck Schumer holds up a copy of a released transcript of a phone call between President Donald Trump and the President of Ukraine. Source: AAP
The summary - which is not a verbatim transcript - shows Mr Trump saying US Attorney General Bill Barr and the president's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani would be in touch about probing Ukraine-related business activities of Mr Biden and his son Hunter.
As Barack Obama's vice president, Mr Biden and other Western leaders pressured Ukraine to get rid of the country's top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, because he was seen as not tough enough on corruption.
The transcript did not show Mr Trump explicitly tying aid to Ukraine to Mr Zelensky probing Mr Biden, but the two did discuss a major aid package, which had been frozen by Mr Trump at the time and was only released in recent weeks.
Mr Trump described the scandal surrounding the call as a "hoax" and a "witch hunt."
"I didn't do it, I didn't threaten anybody. No push, no pressure, nothing," Mr Trump told reporters.
Speaking alongside Mr Trump earlier, Mr Zelensky insisted he had not been "pushed" by Mr Trump during the controversial call.
Here are the main extracts of the transcript, which is not verbatim:
'Whatever you can do'
"There's a lot of 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 (US) Attorney General would be great.
"Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it... It sounds horrible to me."
Giuliani 'knows what is happening'
"Mr Giuliani (Trump's personal lawyer) is a highly respected man. He was the mayor of New York, a great mayor, and I would like him to call you. I will ask him to call you along with the Attorney General.
"Rudy very much knows what's happening and he is a very capable guy. If you could speak to him that would be great."
US 'very, very good to Ukraine'
"The United States has been very, very good to Ukraine. I wouldn't say that it's reciprocal necessarily because things are happening that are not good but the United States has been very, very good to Ukraine."
United States President Donald Trump holding a phone in the Oval Office. Source: AAP
'Do us a favour'
After Mr Zelenksy raises the prospect of buying US military hardware, Mr Trump pivots to ask about a hack of Democratic emails that helped trigger the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 US elections:
"I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it."
"I would like you to get to the bottom of it... Whatever you can do, it's very important that you do it if that's possible."
White House welcome
"Whenever you would like to come to the White House, feel free to call. Give us a date and we'll work that out."
Zelensky says will 'drain the swamp'
In his replies, Ukraine's president said that Mr Trump was "a great teacher," and - using one of Mr Trump's favorite phrases - he would "drain the swamp" in Ukraine by bringing in fresh politicians.
Mr Zelensky also took the chance to mention he booked into a Trump hotel on his last visit to the United States.
"I stayed in New York near Central Park and I stayed at the Trump Tower," he said.
