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I know there's a lot of plausible speculation that the whistleblower's complaint relates to Trump's July 31st call with Putin, but after reading the IG's letter, I'm more concerned about Trump's July 25th call with Ukraine's President Zelensky.
The White House's readout of the July 25th call contained nothing of substance, but Ukraine's readout noted that Trump was focused on Ukraine's ability to "complete investigations into corruption cases that have hampered Ukraine-US cooperation."
president.gov.ua/news/volodimir…
president.gov.ua/news/volodimir…
There is only one way this reference can realistically be interpreted: during the call between Trump and Zelensky, Trump expressed his desire that Ukraine carry out a criminal investigation into his political opponent, former VP Joe Biden.
The day following this call, US Special Rep Volker had his own meeting with President Zelensky. And, a few days after that, Trump's personal attorney Giuliani flew to the Spanish countryside for a secret meeting with Zelensky's right-hand man, Yermak.
Per NYT, the whistleblower's complaint is about a series of events that includes, but is not limited to, a statement made by Trump to a foreign leader. That could suggest that whatever Trump promised on the call was later followed up on by other agents. nytimes.com/2019/09/19/us/… 
Under this hypothetical scenario, Trump wouldn't need to make inappropriate promises over a call. Instead, Trump would just need to say something that would confirm for Zelesky that, later, when Trump's agents make promises to Ukraine in secret, they do so on his knowing behalf.
Giuliani has admitted that he flew to Spain to pressure the Ukrainian president's aide into launching a criminal investigation into Joe Biden. I wonder if perhaps, in addition to offering a stick, Giuliani was also there to offer some kind of carrot. nytimes.com/2019/08/21/us/…
