White House sought to 'lock down' records of Trump's call to Ukraine leader, claims whistleblower
Video report by ITV News Washington Correspondent Robert Moore
White House officials sought to "lock down" records of a phone call in which President Donald Trump urged his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden.
According to a secret whistleblower complaint made public on Thursday, the insider learned about the effort from "multiple US officials".
The whistleblower alleges Trump abused the power of his office to "solicit interference from a foreign country" in next year's US election.
Speaking publicly for the first time about the complaint, the Acting Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire, said the anonymous person who disclosed the information "did the right thing".
The House intelligence committee was told the whistleblower followed the law "every step of the way," with Mr Maguire adding the situation is unique and unprecedented.
Democrats in the House of Representatives who have read the document have said it is “deeply disturbing”.
In an all capitals tweet fired off by Mr Trump, he urged his supporters to "fight hard" as "our country is at stake".
Democrats in the House of Representatives who have read the document have said it is “deeply disturbing”.
In an all-capitals tweet fired off by Mr Trump, he urged his supporters to "fight hard" as "our country is at stake".
House Democrats who are now mulling Mr Trump’s impeachment are hoping Mr Maguire will explain why he withheld the intelligence community whistleblower’s complaint from Congress for weeks.
The document was made available to members of House and Senate intelligence committees on Wednesday after Mr Maguire had initially determined they could not see it.
Part of the complaint is at least in part related to a July phone call between Mr Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which Mr Trump prodded Mr Zelenskiy to investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden.
What has happened so far?
The White House released a rough transcript of that call earlier this week.
House intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff said it "exposed serious wrongdoing" and "certainly provides information for the committee to follow up with others".
The complaint showed the whistleblower learned details of the call from White House officials, according to one person familiar with the complaint who was granted anonymity to discuss it.
Another such person said the politicians did not learn the identity of the whistleblower.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – who on Tuesday fully endorsed an impeachment investigation in light of the Ukraine revelations – and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer also viewed the complaint.
Mr Schumer said he was even “more worried” now than he was before reading it and “there are huge numbers of facts crying out for investigation”.
Mr Trump, whose administration had earlier baulked at turning over the complaint, said on Wednesday afternoon that "I fully support transparency on the so-called whistleblower information" and that he had communicated that position to House minority leader Kevin McCarthy.
The rough transcript released by the White House on Wednesday showed that Mr Trump prodded Mr Zelenskiy to work with the US attorney general and Mr Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to investigate Mr Biden.
Mr Zelenskiy said his comments in the conversation with Mr Trump should not have been publicly released, and he played down Ukraine’s investigation of Mr Biden, a former vice president who is now a 2020 presidential candidate.
Politicians said they needed to see the complaint, not just the memo about the call, as they investigate the president and whether his actions were inappropriate.
Ms Pelosi on Tuesday said that if Mr Trump abused his presidential powers, it would mark a "betrayal of his oath of office".
She said that a whistleblower’s complaint at the centre of Congress’s impeachment inquiry shows that US President Donald Trump was engaged in a cover-up.
The House of Representatives speaker read from the declassified complaint, which alleges the White House tried to “lock down” details of Mr Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president after he asked him to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
“This is a cover-up,” she said.
The speaker called it a “sad week” in which she changed course and moved forward with a formal impeachment inquiry of the president.
“This is nothing that we take lightly,” she said.
The unidentified whistleblower first submitted a complaint to Michael Atkinson, the US government’s intelligence inspector general, in August.