Ukraine's president complained he didn't want to be used as a political 'instrument' by Trump over his push to investigate Joe Biden, US diplomatic text messages say

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

• Ukraine's president expressed unease about the country being used as a domestic political "instrument" by the Trump administration, according to text messages between US diplomats released on Thursday by the chairs of three House committees. 
• According to the messages, US ambassadors complied with Trump's demand to place pressure on Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, a key domestic rival of the president. 
• On Thursday, former US envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker — one of the officials whose messages were released — testified for nine hours before House committees investigating impeaching the president over Ukraine. 
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Ukraine's government expressed concern it was being used as a domestic political "instrument" by the Trump administration, after the president pushed the country to investigate his Democratic political rival Joe Biden, according to texts between US diplomats released by House Democrats. 

On Thursday, the House Chairs on Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight and Reform committees released text messages between US diplomats and other officials in which they discussed attempts to shape US foreign policy to comply with Trump's demand for damaging information on a domestic rival. 

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