House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff tweeted Tuesday that the whistleblower at the heart of the national security complaint against Donald Trump has contacted his committee in hopes of giving testimony.
The news came almost simultaneously with an announcement from Trump that he would release a full transcript of his July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. At the same time, news leaked that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would announce later Tuesday the initiation of a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump.
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It’s a lot of political maneuvering all at once. Trump seems to hope he can take the air out of the drive toward impeachment by releasing the transcript of his call alone. In the meantime, the whistleblower’s request to meet with the House Intelligence panel directly is a sure reminder that Trump’s phone call is by no means the full story behind the complaint that person filed with the intelligence community inspector general. For her part, Pelosi is already saying that the transcript isn’t enough. Asked directly about the transcript Tuesday during a talk at the The Atlantic Festival, Pelosi responded, “It’s not about that. This is about the Constitution of the United States.”
Pelosi expanded on her thinking about the transcript and Trump’s approach to it. “There is no requirement there be a quid pro quo in the conversation,” she explained. “If the president brings up, he wants them to investigate something of his political opponent, that is self evident that it is not right. We don't ask foreign governments to help us in our election.”
Trump is already trying to keep this a narrow consideration. House Democrats are already being clear that this entire episode surrounding Trump and his pressuring of Ukraine to investigate the Bidens warrants inspection.
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