(CNN) When Donald Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to look into debunked allegations of unethical behavior regarding former Vice President Joe Biden in the country, he suggested his counterpart work with someone in his administration to get to the bottom of it. That man? Attorney General William Barr.

"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 Attorney General would be great," Trump told Zelensky on the call, according to a rough transcript released by the White House. (There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe or Hunter Biden.)

On two more occasions during that conversation, Trump said he would have Barr (in addition to Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani) get in touch with Zelensky to look into the Biden thing.

Which is problematic, given that Trump is seemingly putting America's attorney general in charge of coordinating an investigation -- with a foreign power! -- into a possible 2020 rival. Knowing what that looks like, the Justice Department released a statement in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday's transcript release, denying that Barr had any contact with the Ukrainians.

"The Attorney General was first notified of the President's conversation with Ukrainian President Zelensky several weeks after the call took place, when the Department of Justice learned of a potential referral," said Department of Justice Spokesperson Kerri Kupec. "The President has not spoken with the Attorney General about having Ukraine investigate anything relating to former Vice President Biden or his son."

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