UPDATE 1-Trump shrugs off talk of impeachment over Ukraine whistleblower case

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday shrugged off talk about impeachment over a whistleblower allegation that he had asked his Ukrainian counterpart to launch an investigation that could damage Democratic political rival Joe Biden.

Asked how seriously he was taking the threat of impeachment by Congress, Trump said, "Not at all seriously." Trump was speaking to reporters as he arrived at the U.N. General Assembly. On Sunday, Trump acknowledged that he discussed Democratic presidential hopeful Biden and his son in a July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The Democratic leader of a key congressional panel said on Sunday the pursuit of Trump's impeachment may be the "only remedy" to the situation. Trump on Monday accused Democrats of fomenting a politically motivated scandal, although he did not provide evidence. The allegation about the phone call stemmed from a classified whistleblower report in the U.S. intelligence community.

The Wall Street Journal and other news outlets on Friday said Trump repeatedly asked Zelenskiy to investigate the involvement of Biden's son Hunter with a Ukrainian energy company.

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