Trump says exerted ’no pressure whatsoever’ on Ukraine to investigate Biden

President Donald Trump maintained Wednesday that he had exerted "no pressure" on Ukraine, as the White House released a call transcript confirming he had asked Kiev to probe his political rival Joe Biden.

"There was no pressure whatsoever," Trump told reporters on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, a day after Democrats seized on the call to launch an impeachment process.

"It was a friendly letter, there was no pressure," Trump said -- referring to the rough transcript of his July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The US leader said Democrats had built up the exchange as the "call from hell" but that "it turned out to be a nothing call".

"Part of the problem you have is you have the fake news, you have a lot of corrupt reporting," Trump said, once more denouncing "the single greatest witch hunt in American history."

The official memorandum on the call to Zelensky shows Trump saying his attorney general Bill Barr and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani would be in touch about probing Biden and his son's activities related to Ukraine.

In announcing the launch of impeachment proceedings on Tuesday, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Trump had betrayed his country in seeking help from a foreign power to hurt a political rival.

Former vice president Biden is the leading Democratic candidate to challenge Trump in the November 2020 presidential election.