After members of the House Intelligence Committee viewed the whistleblower complaint, committee chair Adam Schiff called the complaint "urgent" and said it was a "travesty" that it had been withheld from Congress.
"The idea that the Department of Justice would have intervened to prevent it from getting to Congress throws the leadership of that department into further ill repute," Schiff noted.
Democratic members who have seen the complaint described it as "extraordinarily detailed" and "very well done." Schiff said it provided plenty of information for his panel could follow up on.
Schiff also promised that Democrats would do everything possible to protect the whistleblower, before walking away without taking any questions from reporters.
Watch Schiff’s brief statement below.