A second whistleblower, with first-hand knowledge of U.S. President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, has spoken with the intelligence community’s internal watchdog, the lawyer representing the official said Sunday.
Mark Zaid confirmed in an interview with ABC’s This Week that the second official, also from the U.S. intelligence community, has been interviewed by the inspector general.
Zaid represents the first whistleblower who filed a complaint involving a July 25 phone call Trump held with Ukraine’s president in which he asked him to investigate a Democratic rival, former vice-president Joe Biden.
The existence of the second whistleblower followed stirrings of discontent within Trump’s own Republican Party after he called on China on Friday to investigate Biden’s son, who had business dealings in that country.
Republican Senators Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse and Susan Collins all have expressed concerns about Trump reaching out to foreign countries for help in his 2020 re-election bid.
In a tweet on Saturday, Trump lashed out at Romney, saying “he is a pompous ass who has been fighting me from the beginning.”
Mitt Romney never knew how to win. He is a pompous “ass” who has been fighting me from the beginning, except when he begged me for my endorsement for his Senate run (I gave it to him), and when he begged me to be Secretary of State (I didn’t give it to him). He is so bad for R’s!
—@realDonaldTrump
The telephone call and the whistleblower complaint filed in August prompted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to launch impeachment proceedings against Trump on Sept. 24, saying his actions jeopardized U.S. election integrity and threatened national security.
On Friday, House Democrats issued a subpoena to the White House for documents related to Ukraine as part of their impeachment inquiry.
They have warned that defying their demands for documents would in itself be considered “evidence of obstruction” and a potentially impeachable offence.
The subpoena came after the three committees leading the impeachment inquiry separately sent a letter Friday seeking documents from Vice-President Mike Pence as part of their investigation.
In another tweet Saturday, Trump called the inquiry a “fraud against the American people!”
The so-called Whistleblower’s account of my perfect phone call is “way off,” not even close. Schiff and Pelosi never thought I would release the transcript of the call. Got them by surprise, they got caught. This is a fraud against the American people!
—@realDonaldTrump
In another tweet, Trump continued his attack on Romney. “I’m hearing that the Great People of Utah are considering their vote for their Pompous Senator, Mitt Romney, to be a big mistake. I agree! He is a fool who is playing right into the hands of the Do Nothing Democrats!” Trump wrote.
He ended his tweet with an extraordinary call to impeach a senator from his own party.
I’m hearing that the Great People of Utah are considering their vote for their Pompous Senator, Mitt Romney, to be a big mistake. I agree! He is a fool who is playing right into the hands of the Do Nothing Democrats! <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/IMPEACHMITTROMNEY?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#IMPEACHMITTROMNEY</a>
—@realDonaldTrump
Romney was joined Saturday in his criticism by Collins, who said “it’s not OK” for a president to encourage a foreign state to investigate a political rival.
Speaking after a firefighter memorial service in her state of Maine, Collins said Trump made a “big mistake” when he piled on his outreach to Ukraine by publicly calling on China to investigate the Bidens.
Sasse, of Nebraska, is the only other Republican senator to publicly criticize the president’s comments.
Doing what’s ‘required to do by law’
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, has said the State Department intends to follow the law in the House impeachment investigation and vigorously defended Trump, dismissing questions about the president’s attempts to push Ukraine and China to investigate Biden.
Pompeo, speaking Saturday in Greece, said the State Department sent a letter to Congress on Friday night as its initial response to the document request. He added: “We’ll obviously do all the things that we’re required to do by law.”
He will allow the Democrats to interview a series of witnesses next week. Among them is Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, another key figure in the probe.