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US-POLITICS-CONGRESS-TRUMP-IMPEACHMENT-LEAD
Trump whistleblower complaint ‘very troubling’, say lawmakers
NEW YORK, Sept 26, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A whistleblower report that has
prompted an impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump contains “very troubling”
allegations, US lawmakers have said, after the president dismissed the case
against him as a “joke.”
Democrats have accused Trump of a “mafia-style shakedown” of his Ukrainian
counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky by urging a probe into his rival Joe Biden —
prompting the complaint by an anonymous US intelligence official earlier in
September.
That document has now been declassified, Republican Congressman and House
Intelligence Committee member Chris Stewart said late on Wednesday, and CNN
reported that it could be released as soon as Thursday morning.
Top Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer told reporters the complaint was
“very troubling” — an assessment echoed by Republican Senator Ben Sasse, who
said that “there’s obviously lots that’s very troubling there.”
Trump struck an uncharacteristically subdued tone on Wednesday at his
first news conference since Democrats launched an official impeachment
inquiry.
“They are getting hit hard on this witch hunt because when they look at
the information, it’s a joke,” said the president.
A more defiant Trump had earlier insisted he exerted “no pressure” on Kiev
— a claim echoed by Zelensky, who appeared side-by-side with the US leader
at a long-planned meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
But the publication of a call transcript released by the White House on
Wednesday sent new shockwaves through Washington, including within the ranks
of Trump’s Republican Party.
Two competing narratives immediately took hold.
Trump and his allies claimed the July 25 call contained no evidence of a
quid pro quo pressuring Zelensky to probe the president’s top Democratic
rival for the White House.
Democrats meanwhile held it up as a smoking gun.
“This is how a mafia boss talks,” charged senior lawmaker Adam Schiff.
The call summary — which is not a verbatim transcript — shows Trump
saying US Attorney General Bill Barr and the president’s personal lawyer Rudy
Giuliani would be in touch about probing the Ukraine-related activities of
Biden and his son.
In announcing the impeachment probe, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said
Trump’s actions amounted to a betrayal of his oath of office and of national
security.
The next explosive episode in the rapidly unfolding drama is set for
Thursday, when acting director of national intelligence Joseph McGuire
testifies on Capitol Hill.
– A ‘favor’ –
As Barack Obama’s vice president, Biden and other Western leaders pressured
Ukraine to get rid of the country’s top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, because he
was seen as not tough enough on corruption.
“There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the
prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you
can do with the attorney general would be great,” Trump told Zelensky in the
call.
“Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can
look into it… It sounds horrible to me.”
The transcript did not show Trump explicitly tying aid to Ukraine to
Zelensky probing Biden, which has fed the calls to impeach him.
But the two did discuss a major aid package, which had been frozen by Trump
at the time and was only released in recent weeks.
The memo also shows Trump asking Zelensky for a “favor” on an issue
unconnected to Biden — just after noting that the US had been “very, very
good to Ukraine.”
Analysts noted that the transcript uses ellipses — denoting words or
entire passages are missing — on three occasions, all when Trump is making
requests of Zelensky.
Others pointed out that it was supposed to summarize a 30-minute call, yet
the transcript runs to around just 12 minutes.
– ‘Witch hunt’ –
Faced with the possibility of becoming the third US president in history
to be impeached, Trump has pushed back hard — branding the probe the “single
greatest witch hunt in American history… a disgraceful thing.”
Pelosi had for months resisted pressure from the party rank-and-file for
impeachment, preferring to focus on next year’s election fight.
She relented on Tuesday, 11 days after the existence of the whistleblower
complaint was made public.
Democrats made clear the White House’s release of the call record would
not satisfy their investigation into whether the US leader broke the law, and
the complaint has now been reviewed by lawmakers.
BSS/AFP/RY/1515 hrs