White House emails Ukraine talking points to Dems, then tries recalling them

President Donald Trump speaks at a joint news conference with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sept. 20, 2019, at the White House. President Donald Trump speaks at a joint news conference with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sept. 20, 2019, at the White House. Photo: Washington Post Photo By Jabin Botsford Photo: Washington Post Photo By Jabin Botsford Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close White House emails Ukraine talking points to Dems, then tries recalling them 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

As the White House scrambled to mount a defense for President Donald Trump on Wednesday morning amid an escalating impeachment inquiry and a released transcript of his call with Ukraine’s leader, it emailed the wrong people with its talking points: the Democrats.

Washington reporters for Politico and the Huffington Post cited sources saying the White House emailed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Congressional Democrats the talking points, then followed up with a “recall” message trying to take the emails back.

Andrew Desiderio of Politico posted a screenshot of the bullet-pointed talking points sent to Democrats, under the title “What You Need to Know: President Trump's Call with President Zelenskyy.” The memo repeatedly uses a different spelling for the last name of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

Hmmm… The White House just sent its talking points on Ukraine to House Democrats.



Here are some screenshots, per source. pic.twitter.com/VvNAaqKP3D — Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) September 25, 2019

Jennifer Bendery of Huffington Post tweeted that Pelosi’s office confirmed receiving the email, then posted a screenshot of the recall message.

Bendery followed up with another tweet saying a Senate Democrat’s office had also confirmed getting the talking points email.

Here's a screenshot of the White House asking House Democrats to please disregard the talking points on Trump/Ukraine they just emailed them pic.twitter.com/55HgOESWyL — Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) September 25, 2019

Some of the Democratic recipients of the email shared it on Twitter while adding their own snarky commentary.

Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania posted, "I would like to thank @WhiteHouse for sending me their talking points on how best to spin the disastrous Trump/Zelensky call in Trump's favor. However, I will not be using their spin and will instead stick with the truth. But thanks though."

Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey called the talking points "complete Orwellian lies and toxic trash."

I would like to thank @WhiteHouse for sending me their talking points on how best to spin the disastrous Trump/Zelensky call in Trump’s favor. However, I will not be using their spin and will instead stick with the truth.

But thanks though. — US Rep Brendan Boyle (@RepBrendanBoyle) September 25, 2019

Tory Symonds, a special assistant to the President and Director of Government Communications, appears to have sent the email. Symonds has worked for the White House for a year and a half, according to her bio on LinkedIn.

The talking points were disseminated Wednesday morning as Trump, under pressure from Democrats, released a rough transcript of his July 25 phone conversation with Zelensky. The transcript shows that he repeatedly asks Zelensky to investigate Trump’s possible 2020 election opponent, Joe Biden, and Biden’s son Hunter.

While the transcript doesn’t show an explicit threat or offer of quid pro quo for investigating the Bidens, Trump does tell Zelensky as he requests the investigations: “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.”

When Zelensky says in the transcript he would help with such an investigation, Trump offers him the White House visit that Zelensky had been seeking.

According to the screenshot posted by Desiderio, the talking points include several bullet-pointed White House defenses to allegations of impropriety. They include that the press misrepresented the call in its reporting, that there was no quid pro quo, that the “real scandal” was a whistleblower’s second-hand leak of Trump’s confidential call with the Ukrainian leader, and that "This is not seeking foreign 'interference' in a U.S. election, it is suggesting that allegations of an abuse of office merit looking into."

Yet to emerge are details from the whistleblower complaint, which includes Trump’s call, that set events in motion that led to Pelosi declaring a formal impeachment inquiry of Trump on Tuesday. Lawmakers on Wednesday were negotiating with the White House to obtain the complaint.

Greg Keraghosian is an SFGATE homepage editor. Email: greg.keraghosian@sfgate.com