(Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images)

(CNSNews.com) - The impeachment inquiry regarding President Donald Trump’s phone call with Ukraine is “a hoax,” the president said Wednesday during a joint press conference with Finland President Sauli Niinistö.



When asked whether the president is planning to cooperate with the three House Intelligence Committees looking into the impeachment inquiry that are planning to send a subpoena to the White House for documents and other materials, Trump said, “I always cooperate.”



“This is a hoax, the greatest hoax,” the president said, adding that it’s a continuation of what's been playing out since his election and probably before his election. “This is a fraudulent crime on the American people, but we’ll work together with Shifty Schiff and Pelosi and all of them.”



Trump said he had “a great call” with the president of Ukraine, “and then Schiff went up as the chairman of the committee ... and related a call that didn't take place.”

“He made up that language - hard to believe. Nobody's ever seen this. I think he had some kind of a mental breakdown, but he went up to the microphone, and he read a statement from the president of the United States as if I were on the call, because what happened is when he looked at the sheet - which was an exact transcript of my call done by very talented people that do this, exact, word for word. He said, ‘Wow. He didn't do anything wrong.’ So he made it up,” Trump said.



“He went up to a microphone and in front of the American people and in Congress. He went out, and he gave a whole presentation of words that the president of the United States never said. It has to be a criminal act. It has to be, and he should resign. Some people even say it was treason, but it was a very sad thing,” the president said.



Trump said there were “many people” on the call with Ukraine.



“I knew that because usually when I speak to foreign country leaders, you can name any one of them, but when I speak on the phone that I know that we have many people listening from various intelligence agencies - my knowledge, I know all about it. So this isn't something like gee, I'm on the line. Let's talk about a big secret. Many people on the line. I don't know how many.



“We'll find out I guess, but many people. Mike Pompeo was on the line. He didn't say anything. Because they listen for knowledge and for security reasons and for lots of reasons. The president of Ukraine at the United Nations the other day and previous to that, he announced through spokesperson, said there was absolutely no pressure put on him. There was no quid pro quo. At all,” Trump said.



“If you look at this whistle-blowers -- I have a lot of respect for whistle-blowers but only when they are real. His report of the phone call was totally different than the fact, but what got them was they never thought I was going to release the call because I don't like doing that,” the president said.



“I hope I don't have to do it again. Release phone calls to foreign dignitaries to foreign leaders. I don't want to do that, John. I don't want to do it again, but I did it with the permission of the Ukrainian government to become permission. We called up their representatives and ask them would be okay? Otherwise I couldn't of done it, and if I wouldn't have done it, I would've been exposed to a lie, because the whistle-blower report -- didn't he say seven or eight times I said quid pro quo,” he said.



“In other words, you're going to do this or you're not going to get money. In all fairness, Biden said it, and he's on tape. In all fairness, you have at least four United States senators, Democrats, that said it, and they said it a lot stronger than even Schiff and his made-up story said it,” the president said.



Trump pointed out that former President Barack Obama told Russia that he could do a lot more after the election, but the mainstream media didn’t make a big deal out of it.



“Obama when he was dealing with the president of Russia, not Putin. He said hey, hey tell Vladimir I can do a lot more after the election. You remember that? You didn’t make a big deal out of that Everybody thought oh, cute isn’t that cute?” Trump said.



“To impeach a president over fraud that was committed by other people that want to win and election in 2020 which they won't, is incredible. This is the greatest hoax. Now, itt's gone on for a long time. We had the Mueller collusion delusion, okay? That went on for years, and that's finally done. No collusion, no obstruction, no nothing. It was a joke, and everyone knows it,” he said.