House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) announced on Tuesday that the alleged “whistleblower” – who sparked a political firestorm after claiming President Trump urged Ukraine’s leader to re-open an inquiry into Hunter Biden’s business dealings – wants to speak to their committee and added that a testimony could come “as soon as this week.”
“We have been informed by the whistleblower’s counsel that their client would like to speak to our committee and has requested guidance from the Acting DNI as to how to do so,” Schiff announced in a tweet Tuesday.
“We‘re in touch with counsel and look forward to the whistleblower’s testimony as soon as this week,” he added:
Schiff’s announcement follows rumblings of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) intention to announce a formal impeachment inquiry against President Trump, using the alleged whistleblower’s accusations as a basis to formally launch the probe. As reported, the alleged whistleblower did not have firsthand knowledge of the conversation.
As Breitbart News reported:
It is not clear what law, if any, Trump would have broken by urging the Ukrainian government to re-open the case. The alleged “whistleblower” in the case did not hear his conversations with Ukrainian leaders directly, and the Wall Street Journal has suggested there was no quid pro quo — that Trump did not offer (or withhold) anything in return.
Trump told reporters over the weekend that his conversation with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky was “largely congratulatory.”
“The conversation I had was largely congratulatory, with largely corruption, all of the corruption taking place and largely the fact that we don’t want our people like Vice President Biden and his son creating to the corruption already in the Ukraine,” Trump said of his conversation with Zelensky.
Trump announced on Tuesday that he authorized the “complete, fully declassified and unredacted” transcript of the conversation.
Trump announced:
I am currently at the United Nations representing our Country, but have authorized the release tomorrow of the complete, fully declassified and unredacted transcript of my phone conversation with President Zelensky of Ukraine……..You will see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call. No pressure and, unlike Joe Biden and his son, NO quid pro quo! This is nothing more than a continuation of the Greatest and most Destructive Witch Hunt of all time!