Schiff says inspector general correct in deciding whistleblower complaint was urgent, credible

Record ID: 1435135

  • Title: Schiff says inspector general correct in deciding whistleblower complaint was urgent, credible
  • Date: 4th October 2019
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 4, 2019) (REUTERS) MICHAEL ATKINSON, INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY WALKING PAST REPORTERS
  • Embargoed: 18th October 2019 23:34
  • Keywords: Trump impeachment testimony Schiff democrats Michael Atkinson inspector general of the intelligence community
  • Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
  • City: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001AZOO953
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The U.S. intelligence community's inspector general was correct in deciding a whistleblower complaint against President Donald Trump was urgent and credible, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said in a statement on Friday (October 4).
    Inspector General Michael Atkinson testified before a closed-door hearing of Schiff's panel on Friday about the complaint, which is at the center of a House of Representatives impeachment inquiry of Trump.
    Democratic Representative Jackie Speier said the witness made a "compelling case."
    Republican John Ratcliffe said Chairman Schiff should be disqualified for investigating the case.
    U.S. House Democrats on Friday asked Vice President Mike Pence to turn over documents relating to a meeting he held with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and a call between Zelenskiy and President Donald Trump that is at the center of their widening impeachment probe.
    The Democratic chairmen of the three House committees leading the investigation gave Pence until October 15 to produce the records. During the July 25 call, Trump pressed Zelenskiy to open an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump's political rival, and Biden's son.
    U.S. officials pressured the Ukrainian government to launch investigations that might benefit President Donald Trump's personal political agenda in exchange for a meeting of the two countries' leaders, a cache of diplomatic texts showed.
    The exchanges were released on Thursday by Democrats in the House of Representatives as part of an investigation to determine whether they should impeach Trump for pressing Ukraine to probe former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, in connection with Ukrainian gas company Burisma.
    Biden is a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. His son was on the board of Burisma for a number of years.
    Kurt Volker, who resigned last week as Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, gave the messages to several House committees in a closed-door meeting on Thursday.
    In July, Volker texted an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to tell him that a meeting between the countries' two leaders was tied to Kiev's agreement to investigate the 2016 U.S. election, according to the committees.
    "Heard from the White House - assuming President Z convinces trump he will investigate/'get to the bottom of what happened' in 2016, we will nail down date for visit to Washington," Volker wrote.
    The mention of the 2016 election was a reference to a debunked conspiracy theory that evidence of Russian meddling in the campaign on Trump's behalf was actually planted by anti-Russia Ukrainians.
    The texts provide the first insider account of negotiations between Washington and Kiev over U.S. attempts to have Ukraine help Trump's domestic political agenda, the issue which set off the impeachment inquiry against the president.
    The impeachment investigation could lead to the approval of articles of impeachment - or formal charges - against Trump in the Democratic-controlled House. A trial on whether to remove him from office would then be held in the U.S. Senate.
    Republicans who control the Senate have shown little appetite for ousting him.
    (Production: Gershon Peaks, Deborah Lutterbeck)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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