The meeting today between President Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky at the UN General Assembly was arranged well before the whistleblower controversy exploded into public view, according to people familiar with the plans.

Aides initially did not view the meeting as a major highlight of Trump's UN agenda, which they expected would focus heavily on Iran and not on the questions of abuse of power that are now swirling.

Now, officials say they view the meeting as an important venue for Trump to counter Democratic accusations of wrongdoing, particularly because they believe the "transcript" that will be released ahead of the meeting won't be the smoking gun that some are expecting.

One official said there have not been extensive conversations between US and Ukrainian officials about what each leader will say during the open-press part of the meeting, though could not rule out more informal discussions.

Trump signaled Monday he believes Zelensky will back him up: "They don’t know either what the big deal is," he said, referring to the Ukrainians, in a tweet.