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Meet Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's comedian turned president who's at the center of the scandal threatening Trump's presidency
Meet Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's comedian turned president who's at the center of the scandal threatening Trump's presidency
John HaltiwangerSep 26, 2019, 00:03 IST
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a bilateral meeting with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of the Ukraine Reform Conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, July 2, 2019.Chris Helgren/Reuters
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has only been in office a few months and he's already at the center of a scandal that's threatening Donald Trump's presidency.
A phone call between Trump and Zelensky in late July has been tied to a whistleblower complaint from a US intelligence official.
Trump in the phone call repeatedly pressured Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a frontrunner in the Democratic presidential race.
Before entering politics, Zelensky was a comedian and a TV star.
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky is not your average politician, and his ascent to high office was anything but typical.
Zelensky is a former comedian and TV star, who had zero prior political experience when he won a landslide victory in Ukraine's presidential election in April.
Just a few months into his tenure, Zelensky is at the center of a scandal in the US involving a phone call between him and President Donald Trump that's led House Democrats to launch a formal impeachment inquiry.
In the call, Trump repeatedly pressured Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, in relation to the latter's ties to a Ukrainian natural gas company.
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Trump's call with Zelensky is connected to a whistleblower complaint filed by an intelligence official, but is reportedly only a piece of the puzzle and the complaint pertained to more than a single conversation.
Here's more on Zelensky and how he became embroiled in a scandal threatening Trump's presidency:
Zelensky, 41, rose to fame via comedy and as the star of a popular TV show in Ukraine called "Servant of the People." In the show, Zelensky's character is an idealistic schoolteacher who goes on a viral tirade about government corruption and ends up becoming president.
Zelensky's presidential campaign was in many ways an embodiment of the saying "life imitates art." He ran for president in real life on an anti-corruption platform.
Zelensky, whose nickname is "Ze," won a landslide victory with over 70% of the vote in April.
Though Zelensky has pegged himself as a crusader against corruption, he's faced criticism over his relationship with a Ukrainian oligarch named Ihor Kolomoisky, who owned TV station that aired the show that made Zelensky famous.
Kolomoisky was a rival of Zelensky's predecessor, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and lived in self-imposed exile before returning to Ukraine just three days before Zelensky's inauguration.
As one of his first big actions as president, Zelensky in May dissolved Ukraine's parliament and called for a snap election. It was viewed as an effort to consolidate power as he portrayed it as a step toward making good on his promise to stamp out corruption.
Zelensky has expressed interest in having Ukraine apply for NATO membership while also sending mixed signals to Russia. He's pushed for negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine while also calling for Western governments to keep hitting Moscow with sanctions.
On July 25, Trump and Zelensky spoke on the phone. During the call, Trump repeatedly urged Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, who until recently was on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company.
Amid the scandal that's surrounded the phone call, Zelensky has avoided addressing the subject.
In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 25, Zelensky mainly spoke about Russia and did not mention Trump. “Nobody will feel safe while Russia is waging war against Ukraine in the center of Europe,” he said. “The thought that this has nothing to do with you or will never touch your interests will be fatal.”
During his first meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the UNGA, Zelensky told reporters he does not want to "get involved" in US elections as he faced questions about the July 25 phone call. He also rejected the notion Trump "pushed" him and described it as a "normal" call.
Meet Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's comedian turned president who's at the center of the scandal threatening Trump's presidency
