US House committees launch probe of Trump, Giuliani and Ukraine

Three US House of Representatives committees said on Monday they had begun "a wide-ranging investigation" into reports that President Donald Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and possibly others pressured Ukraine's government to assist Trump's re-election campaign.

The Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees wrote to the White House and State Department seeking records related to what they described as efforts to "manipulate the Ukrainian justice system."

Trump and some of his fellow Republicans have questioned whether it representated a conflict of interest that Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden, a presidential candidate, had served on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company.

White House aides did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the announcement of the probe by the Democratic-led House committees.