President Trump released the transcript of a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, a day after Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the House would be launching a formal impeachment inquiry into the president, setting up a dramatic constitutional clash just over a year before the presidential election.
- Read the transcript of the call here.
Mr. Trump has admitted to discussing Joe Biden in the July call with Zelensky in the context of fighting “corruption” in the country. Mr. Trump and his allies, in particular personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, have accused Biden of pushing for the ouster of a Ukrainian prosecutor while he was vice president in order to benefit his son. The prosecutor was widely seen as corrupt, and no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden has emerged.
In August, an anonymous member of the intelligence community filed a whistleblower complaint with the intelligence community inspector general, who determined it constituted an “urgent concern” requiring congressional notification under federal law. However, after consulting with the Justice Department and White House, the acting director of national intelligence came to a different conclusion, and has refused to provide the complaint to congressional committees.
Trending News
Pelosi said the administration’s refusal to provide the complaint was a “violation of the law” that “undermine[s] both our national security and our intelligence.”
“Today I’m announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry,” Pelosi said at the Capitol late Tuesday afternoon. The inquiry marks just the fourth time in American history a president has faced a viable threat of impeachment.
The speaker has long resisted calls from many progressive lawmakers to initiate impeachment proceedings against the president, but Democrats appear to have reached a breaking point over the administration’s refusal to hand over a whistleblower complaint related to Mr. Trump’s interaction with a foreign leader.
“This week, the president has admitted to asking the president of Ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically,” Pelosi said. “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.”
Pelosi said the administration’s refusal to provide the complaint was a “violation of the law” that “undermine[s] both our national security and our intelligence.”
One after another on Monday and Tuesday, Democrats from conservative and moderate House districts who had been resisting previous calls for impeachment came out in favor of initiating impeachment proceedings, citing concerns over Mr. Trump’s potential pressuring of a foreign leader to investigate a domestic political opponent.
The president directed his acting chief of staff to hold off on releasing nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine shortly before the call in July, according to a senior administration official with direct knowledge of the administration’s actions.
Mr. Trump, who is in New York for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, reacted angrily to Pelosi’s statement, calling it a “total Witch Hunt!”
“You will see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call. No pressure and, unlike Joe Biden and his son, NO quid pro quo!” the president tweeted Tuesday afternoon.
That concession, however, did nothing to temper Democrats’ demands for the complaint itself. Congressman Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the whistleblower wants to testify before the committee, and wrote a letter to attorneys representing the individual to request a voluntary interview on Thursday. — Stefan Becket
Updates appear below:
Trump transcript released
The Trump administration has released the much-anticipated transcript of President Trump’s phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, after Mr. Trump announced on Twitter Tuesday he had authorized publishing the transcript.
In the call the president said that he would like to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine and he said his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani would be traveling to Ukraine. Zelinsky said he would meet with Giuliani when he visited.
Zelinsky pledged that his new prosecutor would look into the case, and he asked for additional information.
Read the transcript here.
Trump tweets that his conversation with Zelensky was “a perfect call”
Mr. Trump tweeted on Wednesday that his conversation with Zelensky in July was “a perfect call,” and mused whether Democrats would apologize once they saw the transcript of the call.
“Will the Democrats apologize after seeing what was said on the call with the Ukrainian President? They should, a perfect call – got them by surprise!” Mr. Trump wrote.
Whistleblower wants to talk to Congress directly, lawyer says
The anonymous whistleblower intends to reach out directly to the intelligence committees, according to the whistleblower’s attorneys, who wrote to the acting director of national intelligence (DNI) seeking guidance about how to do so securely.
In a letter released Tuesday, attorney Andrew Bakaj wrote to the DNI in accordance with federal statute to provide “formal notice of our intent to contact the congressional intelligence committees directly.” He requested “direction on doing so in accordance with appropriate security practices.”
In a letter in response, Jason Klitenic, general counsel for the DNI, said the office was “consulting with other Executive Branch stakeholders” and would provide guidance soon.
“Please know that the DNI’s highest priority is ensuring that the women and men of the Intelligence Community have everything they need to carry out their mission in support of our nation’s security,” Klitenic wrote. “This includes supporting the rights of whistleblowers to provide information to Congress.”
Klitenic wrote the office has “every reason to believe that your client — our IC colleague — has acted in good faith and fully complied with the law.”
The White House and the intelligence community are discussing ways to allow the whistleblower who made the complaint last month to share information with Congress, CBS News learned.
The House Intelligence Committee sent a letter to Department of Justice Tuesday night objecting to the way in which it appears to have arrived at the conclusion that the complaint falls outside the DNI’s jurisdiction and is requesting documents underlying that conclusion. — Stefan Becket
Senate unanimously passes resolution demanding whistleblower complaint
The Republican-led Senate unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday calling on the acting director of national intelligence to provide the whistleblower complaint to the intelligence committees.
The administration has so far refused to provide the complaint to Congress, saying the report does not constitute an “urgent concern” requiring congressional notification.
The upper chamber adopted the resolution introduced by Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer by voice vote on Tuesday afternoon.
The resolution says the House and Senate Intelligence Committees “should be allowed to evaluate the complaint in a deliberate and bipartisan manner consistent with applicable statutes and processes in order to safeguard classified and sensitive information.” — Stefan Becket
