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President Donald Trump spoke at a rally in Lexington, Kentucky, on November 4, the same day that the public phase of the impeachment inquiry began.

Trump supporters debuted a new campaign shirt with the phrase „READ THE TRANSCRIPT“ at a rally in Kentucky on Monday.

Trump’s chief defense as the impeachment inquiry progresses is to „read the transcript,“ referring to the summary transcript of a call between the president and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky released by the White House.

However, even though the president insists that investigators should refer to the transcript, Insider’s John Haltiwanger points out it actually does more to damage to the president’s case rather than helps it.

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Trump supporters debuted a new campaign shirt with the phrase „READ THE TRANSCRIPT“ at a rally in Kentucky on Monday.

President Donald Trump spoke at a rally in Lexington, Kentucky, on November 4, the same day that the public phase of the impeachment inquiry began.

Impeachment investigators released the transcripts of closed-door interviews with two witnesses: Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, and Michael McKinley, a top diplomat and former adviser Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Trump’s chief defense as the impeachment inquiry progresses is to „read the transcript,“ referring to the summary memo of a call between the president and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky released by the White House. He has called the call „perfect,“ tweeted the words „READ THE TRANSCRIPT,“ and suggested reading the transcript out loud on live television.

However, even though the president insists that investigators should refer to the transcript, it actually does more to damage to the president’s case rather than help it, as Insider’s John Haltiwanger wrote.

The transcript shows the president asking Zelensky for a favor immediately after the Ukrainian president thanked the US for its „great support in the area of defense.“

„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,“ Trump said, per the transcript. The president then „went on to push Zelensky to open an inquiry into the debunked conspiracy theory on the origins of the FBI’s Russia probe before urging his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate the Bidens,“ Haltiwanger wrote, referring to former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

The call served as the impetus behind a whistleblower complaint that sparked the impeachment inquiry, as Democrats in the House investigate whether Trump abused his power for political gain and if there was any quid pro quo — namely if military aid for Ukraine was withheld unless the aforementioned investigations were opened.