The whistleblower who came forward and filed a complaint about President Trump’s July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was worried about their conversation and how the White House dealt with internal records about the chat, two people briefed on the complaint told The New York Times on Wednesday.
The intelligence officer also identified multiple White House officials who could serve as witnesses and corroborate the complaint, the Times reports. The complaint is still classified, but amid intense pressure, the White House released copies of it on Wednesday to congressional leaders and members of the intelligence committees. House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said he found the allegations contained in the complaint “very credible” and “deeply disturbing.” Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) also read it, and tweeted afterwards that “this thing is bigger than I thought.”
The Justice Department released a memo on Wednesday, dated Sept. 24, that said Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson interviewed witnesses and “eventually concluded that there was a reason to believe that the president may have illegally solicited a foreign campaign contribution — and that his potential misconduct created a national security risk,” the Times says. The memo, which refers to a phone call between Trump and an unnamed foreign leader, also stated the whistleblower learned about the call secondhand, from unidentified White House officials who were worried Trump “abused his authority or acted unlawfully in connection with foreign diplomacy.” Atkinson found the complaint credible, and marked it as being of “urgent concern.” Read more at The New York Times.
Report: Whistleblower complaint includes concerns over White House handling of Ukraine call
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