Three House committees subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for documents relating to President Trump’s July conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when the president allegedly pressured Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter’s involvement in a Ukranian oil company.
The July conversation is at the heart of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump, which Pelosi announced on Tuesday. A whistleblower complaint from an intelligence official invoked the “urgent concern” statute to notify Congress of a phone call Mr. Trump had with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In the complaint, which was made public on Thursday, the whistleblower wrote, “I have received information from multiple U.S. government officials that the president of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election. This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the president’s main domestic political rivals.”
The whistleblower, who did not hear the call or have access to the summary, wrote in the complaint that “multiple White House officials with direct knowledge” relayed details of the call.
The president confirmed he did mention Biden during a July 25 call with Zelensky, saying, “The conversation I had was largely congratulatory, with largely corruption, all of the corruption taking place and largely the fact that we don’t want our people like Vice President Biden and his son [contributing] to the corruption already in the Ukraine.”
Speaker Pelosi said, “This week, the president has admitted to asking the president of Ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically. The actions of the Trump presidency revealed dishonorable facts of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections.”
According to CBS News, approximately 224 House Democrats and one Independent are in favor of opening impeachment proceedings. A total of 218 votes would be needed to move forward with impeachment.
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