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WASHINGTON – After hearing President Trump tried to convince Ukraine to investigate a rival of the 2020 campaign, senior White House officials have struggled to "lock in" the recordings of the United States. appeal, especially the full official transcript, an alleged whistleblower in an explosive complaint released Thursday.
In an attempt to "lock" all the call recordings, White House lawyers have asked officials to transfer an electronic transcript of the call into a separate system reserved for particularly sensitive confidential information, a specified the complaint. During the appeal, Mr Trump lobbied Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate a political rival, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
According to the complaint, these details, along with others surrounding the appeal, have "profoundly disturbed" White House officials. A day earlier, the White House released a reconstructed transcript of the July 25 appeal.
The whistleblower, an anonymous intelligence officer, did not personally witness the acts, but heard testimony from many US officials.
"This set of actions made me understand that White House officials understood the seriousness of what had happened during the call," the complaint said.
The complaint, written with tenderness to explain the usual behavior of Mr. Trump and his administration, was particularly damning given Mr. Trump's long history of rejecting the intelligence community's complaint. conclusion that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to protect it. Democrats in the House took steps to remove Mr. Trump before the contents of the appeal and the complaint were disclosed.
Thursday, the White House rejected accusations of the whistleblower. Her press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, described it as "nothing more than a collection of third-party accounts and crushed newspaper clippings – all of which show nothing but irregularities."
Ms. Grisham said the chair had been open and transparent about the call. "It's because there's nothing to hide," she says.
Mr. Trump himself also rejected allegations that he acted inappropriately.
In the complaint, the whistleblower wrote that the president's personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani, was involved in the lobbying campaign as well as the Attorney General, William P. Barr, although the details of his role were not clear.
The whistleblower also wrote that the unusual treatment of the call was deliberate.
"They told me that there was already an ongoing discussion with White House lawyers on how to deal with the appeal because it is likely that they were witnesses of abuse committed by the president on his desk for personal purposes, "said the whistleblower. wrote.
White House officials told the whistleblower that it was "not the first time" that a presidential transcript was inserted into the secret system "solely for the purpose of protecting people." sensitive political information – not national security ".
A few days before Trump spoke to Zelensky, the president had blocked a $ 391 million military aid package to Ukraine – a decision that officials of the Office of Budget Management and National Security Council were neither aware nor aware.
Several officials have stated that a meeting or a subsequent phone call between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky would depend on the Ukrainian President's desire to "play ball" by investigating Mr Biden, his youngest son, Hunter Biden. , and other topics, according to the newspaper. the complaint. Mr. Biden is one of the leading candidates for the Democratic nomination for the presidency.
"In particular, he tried to put pressure on the Ukrainian leader to take steps to help the president's candidacy for the re-election of 2020," the complaint said.
The United States is a vital partner for Ukraine, which faces years of The Russian aggression that led to the annexation of Crimea by the Kremlin in 2014 has been condemned internationally.
Members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees and a group of senior legislators from both parties, including Senator Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader, were allowed to review the complaint filed Wednesday night, just hours after the publication by the White House reconstituted transcript of a call made on July 25 between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky.
The unclassified version of the complaint was released prior to a hearing of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, in which Acting National Intelligence Director Joseph Maguire testified Thursday morning.
A few hours after the transcript was released on Wednesday, Trump and Zelensky met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. Addressing reporters, Mr. Zelensky joked that a date had not yet been set for the two men to meet in Washington.
Democrats in the House said Trump had violated his oath when he had lobbied a foreign leader to investigate one of his political rivals. The White House initially refused to forward the complaint to Congress or reveal what had been said during the appeal. After the Democrats took the first steps to dismiss Mr. Trump, the administration disclosed the details of the appeal and shared the classified complaint with the lawmakers.
"There is nothing the President declares here that is in the best interests of America," Adam B. Schiff, a California Democrat and chairman of the committee, said at the beginning of the trial. information. "On the contrary, it is the most important form of tragedy, because it forces us to face the remedy provided by the founders for such blatant abuse of power, indictment".
During the hearing, Mr. Maguire said, "I think everything in this case is totally unprecedented."
The whistleblower's complaint is largely about the activities of his personal lawyer, Giuliani, and his contacts with Ukrainian officials. Citing mainly public information, the whistleblower said Giuliani urged the Ukrainian authorities to investigate Biden and his family. – an allegation that Mr Giuliani has denied and defended with enthusiasm.
Giuliani led efforts to urge Ukrainians to investigate Bidens and met with Zelensky's representatives over the summer.
The reports were provided by Nicholas Fandos, Maggie Haberman and Michael D. Shear.
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