President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed criticism from House Democrats and others over his renewed calls for foreign governments to investigate his domestic political rivals, even as text messages from U.S. diplomats suggest he insisted of trading a White House visit with Ukraine’s president for just that.

Experts see a president and administration only digging a deeper hole — and unable to help themselves or build a strategy to allow congressional Republicans to counter House Democrats’ message that Trump is corrupt and putting his own interests over those of the United States.

In a morning tweet, the president wrote that he has “an obligation to end CORRUPTION, even if that means requesting the help of a foreign country or countries.”

That tweet came about 22 hours after he stood on the South Lawn of the White House and again called for the Ukrainian government to look into Joe Biden’s work as vice president to oust what Western officials viewed as a corrupt prosecutor there, while son Hunter Biden was being paid as a board member of a Ukrainian gas firm. Trump contends the former vice president did so to help his son. But then Trump, unmoved by suggestions that his request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is an impeachable offense, made an incredible statement.