Accounting
Trump Ukraine Whistleblower Complaint Declassified, Released to Public
The whistleblower complaint alleging President Donald Trump acted improperly in discussions with the president of Ukraine has been released to the public.
Sep. 26, 2019
The whistleblower complaint alleging President Donald Trump acted improperly in discussions with the president of Ukraine has been declassified for release to the public. It has not yet been made available. Republican representative Chris Stewart, who is on the House Intelligence Committee, announced the declassification on Twitter late Wednesday night. The full whistleblower complaint can be read here.
Nondisclosure of the report to Congressional oversight committees, as generally proscribed by law, led House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congressional Democrats to announce the beginning of impeachment proceedings against the President on Tuesday.
According to a CNN report:
The complaint was hand delivered Wednesday afternoon to Capitol Hill, giving lawmakers their first chance to see the classified account that spurred Democrats to launch a formal impeachment inquiry. Democrats reading the document, which is available to lawmakers in two secure facilities, one in each chamber, say it backs up their commitment to their investigation.The move came just hours after the White House released a rough transcript of a July 25 phone call that shows the President repeatedly pressed the leader of Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.
From Fox News:
Lawyers for the whistleblower – a member of the intelligence community – confirmed to Fox News on Wednesday that the whistleblower wanted to testify before Congress and was waiting on possible guidance from acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, the lawyers said. Maguire is set to testify himself on Thursday.
From ABC News:
“It was clear that [President Donald] Trump will only have communications if they will discuss the Biden case,” said Serhiy Leshchenko, an anti-corruption advocate and former member of Ukraine’s Parliament, who now acts as an adviser to Zelenskiy. “This issue was raised many times. I know that Ukrainian officials understood.”
From CBS News:
The White House acknowledged that the five-page “unredacted” memo released Wednesday is not a verbatim record of the conversation between the two leaders July 25, which has become central to the impeachment inquiry against Mr. Trump. Instead, it is based on notes and recollections from Situation Room officers and National Security Council staff, who are assigned to listen to and document presidential conversations.