Democrats call whistleblower complaint ‘deeply disturbing’

WASHINGTON
(AP) — Democrats who reviewed a secret whistleblower complaint
involving President Donald Trump Wednesday called it “deeply disturbing”
and said it gives them new leads to pursue as they consider
impeachment.

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The complaint from an intelligence committee
whistleblower, the document at the center of a firestorm about Trump’s
handling of Ukraine, was made available to members of House and Senate
intelligence committees Wednesday after weeks of delay. Lawmakers were
allowed to see the complaint the evening before acting Director of
National Intelligence Joseph Maguire was set to testify to Congress
about it.

The complaint is at least in part related to a July
phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in
which Trump prodded Zelenskiy to investigate Democratic political rival
Joe Biden. The White House released a rough transcript of that call
Wednesday morning.

House Democrats emerging from a secure room
would not divulge details of the complaint, but described it as
disturbing and urgent. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam
Schiff, D-Calif., said it “exposed serious wrongdoing” and “certainly
provides information for the committee to follow up with others.”

California
Rep. Eric Swalwell told CNN that the whistleblower “laid out a lot of
other documents and witnesses who were subjects in this matter.”

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 lawmakers did not learn the identity of the whistleblower.

A
Democratic member of the panel, Illinois Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, said
the whistleblower “lays out the situation very logically” and “is both
acknowledging the things that he or she knows and doesn’t know, which is
a hallmark of a credible document.”

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. Schumer said he is even “more worried” now
than he was before reading it and “there are huge numbers of facts
crying out for investigation.”

Most Republicans were quiet or
defended the president as they left the secure rooms. But at least one
Republican said he was concerned by what he had read.

“Republicans
ought not to be rushing to circle the wagons and say there’s no ‘there
there’ when there’s obviously a lot that’s very troubling there,” said
Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, a GOP member of the Senate intelligence panel
who has been an occasional critic of Trump. He added that “Democrats
ought not be using words like ‘impeach’ before they knew anything about
the actual substance.”

Trump, whose administration had earlier
balked at turning over the complaint, said Wednesday afternoon that “I
fully support transparency on the so-called whistleblower information”
and that he had communicated that position to House Minority Leader Rep.
Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

The rough transcript released by the
White House on Wednesday showed that Trump prodded Zelenskiy to work
with the U.S. attorney general and Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani
to investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden.

Lawmakers
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. Pelosi on Tuesday said that if Trump abused his
presidential powers, it would mark a “betrayal of his oath of office.”

It is unclear if the complaint will eventually be made public. Both Republicans and Democrats have called for it to be released.

New
York Rep. Elise Stefanik, a GOP member of the House panel, tweeted that
“it should be immediately declassified and made public for the American
people to read.” New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a member of Democratic
leadership, agreed, saying he expects it will be made public “sooner
rather than later.”

The House and Senate committees have also
invited the whistleblower to testify, but it is uncertain whether the
person will appear and whether his or her identity could be adequately
protected without Maguire’s blessing. Schiff said Wednesday morning that
Maguire still had not provided any instructions on how that could
happen.

The unidentified whistleblower submitted a complaint to
Michael Atkinson, the U.S. government’s intelligence inspector general,
in August. Maguire then blocked release of the complaint to Congress,
citing issues of presidential privilege and saying the complaint did not
deal with an “urgent concern.” Atkinson disagreed, but said his hands
were tied.

Maguire is testifying publicly before the House
Intelligence Committee on Thursday and privately before the Senate
panel. Atkinson, who met privately with House lawmakers last week, will
also talk privately to the Senate committee Thursday.

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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Michael Balsamo, Lisa Mascaro, Laurie Kellman and Alan Fram contributed to this report.