Trump Is Feeling the Squeeze

Donald Trump threw a Hail Mary this afternoon, just hours before Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly announces she backs an impeachment inquiry, tweeting he would release a “complete, fully declassified” transcript of his call with the Ukrainian president.

From the United Nations, where things are going great, he tweeted:

Trump is referring to the latest sweeping scandal swirling around him, this one related to withholding aid to Ukraine ahead of a call with the country’s president, a tactic he admitted to earlier today. Trump’s conversations with President Zelensky are a major point of contention, and it’s been widely reportedly that Trump leaned on the Ukrainian president to open an investigation into Joe Biden’s son’s dealings with a natural gas company.

That Trump is doing this now shows he’s feeling the pressure—but it’s likely too little too late. The controversy has picked up steam over the last few days, including a critical mass of Democrats throwing their support behind an impeachment effort. Now that it’s been vetted to hell and comes days too late, the transcript isn’t likely to show much, and some sources on the Hill have made clear they won’t be satisfied with anything less than the release of the full whistleblower report which kicked all this off.

One last thing to bear in mind: Trump tweeted this promise before reports about Pelosi’s big announcement were published.

What’s clear, for now, is that this whole thing is going to get much bigger.