Trump misrepresents whistleblower complaint in misleading tweet

President Trump tweeted Wednesday that the Ukraine whistleblower claimed his July call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was "crazy, frightening, and completely lacking in substance" — a claim disproven by the whistleblower's complaint.

"The so-called Whistleblower, before knowing I was going to release the exact Transcript, stated that my call with the Ukrainian President was 'crazy, frightening, and completely lacking in substance related to national security.' This is a very big Lie. Read the Transcript!"

Reality check: In the complaint, the whistleblower never states that the call between Trump and Zelensky was "crazy, frightening, and completely lacking in substance" as Trump claims.

• A White House official described the call that way to the whistleblower, the New York Times reported.
• The complaint's section about the call is sourced to "multiple White House officials with direct knowledge of the call."
• Despite the fact that the whistleblower did not have firsthand knowledge of the content of the call, the 3 claims about the call in the whistleblower's complaint were verified by the White House's release of the memo summarizing the Trump-Zelensky call.

Go deeper:

• Read the whistleblower's complaint
• Read the White House's memo of the Trump-Zelensky call
• Trump-Ukraine scandal: The key players, dates and documents