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The White House and congressional Democrats have entered a state of total political war as a result of this week's staggering filings of documents, historical testimony and the launch of a dismissal investigation following the call. President Trump's telephone call with the Ukrainian President in July
The transcript of this appeal and the resulting whistleblower's complaint are now public – and the Acting National Intelligence Director handing over his account to a House committee on Thursday – the battle between these two branches of government is truly under way. And no side gives an inch.
TRUMP ASKS SCHIFF FOR RESIGNATION OF SCHIFF ON "PARODY" READING OF UKRAINE APPEAL
Trump and his allies are stepping up attacks on Democrats, the media, the whistle-blower, and the various sources who provided information about the president that led to the complaint. The House Democrats, meanwhile, are moving forward with the formal investigation of the dismissal announced earlier this week. The reports indicate that legislators plan to proceed quickly with their investigation, stressing the possibility of removal from office before the end of the year.
"The presidential oath requires the President of the United States to do two things: faithfully carry out his mandate and protect and defend the Constitution." The whistle-blower complaint and the record of appeal provide the most evidence. So far, Trump has not done anything "The chairman of the House's intelligence committee, Adam Schiff, tweeted.
All this played out in just a few days, as the Ukrainian controversy pushed Democratic leaders to take impeachment measures, unlike the Russian controversy. The White House, for its part, spent most of the week trying to clarify things. He issued a transcript of the appeal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy showing Trump urging his Kyiv counterpart to "investigate" former Vice President Joe Biden and his son. According to the Democrats, Trump reportedly asked for help from a foreign power during the 2020 presidential election. The whistle-blower's complaint regarding the same appeal, which had been made public, included additional allegations, including allegations that officials have attempted to conceal the recordings of the appeal.
But the president and his legal team fight back by comparing the whistleblower and his sources to spies – and wondering if this is all partisan work.
"It looks more and more like what's called the whistleblower is not at all a whistleblower." In addition, all the second-hand information that has proved so inaccurate that it does not There may have not even been someone else, a fleeing or a spy, who fed him or her? A partisan? Trump tweeted on Friday.
He also criticized the media coverage, including Peter Baker of the New York Times for his latest report on the call.
And he demanded the resignation of Schiff, D-Calif., For having read "fraudulently" a hyperbolic account of his phone call with the Ukrainian president at a hearing on Thursday.
Trump began asking questions about the whistleblower on Thursday.
"I want to know who the person is, who is the person who gave the information to the whistleblower?" Said Trump, according to an audio recording of his remarks at a private event in a New York hotel obtained by the Los Angeles Times. "Because it's close to a spy."
He added, "Do you know what we did in the past when we were smart? Right? Spies and betrayal, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now. "
Trump's lawyer, Jay Sekulow, suggested Friday that the alarm launcher had received help writing his complaint that rocked Washington.
"Do you think the whistleblower wrote the complaint? I mean realistically? "Said Sekulow about" Fox & Friends "." Look at the phraseology, the endnotes and the footnotes – this has not been written by this person. This was written by a law firm. The American people see it as it is. Nobody likes this anymore.
Sekulow described the fallout surrounding the controversy as "political theater".
"There is no there," he says. "There has been no violation of law, rule or regulation."
REPUBLICANS WANT SOURCES OF OPENING SIGNALING, INCONSTANCES IN THE MOVEMENT OF COMPLAINTS
On Thursday, Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire testified publicly before the House Intelligence Committee. Despite pressure from the Democrats for hours, Maguire said the whistleblower's complaint was "hearsay" and "second hand" information – a feeling that Sekulow picked up again on Friday.
Sekulow also responded to allegations that the White House has transferred records of calls from a computer system where they would normally be kept in a system normally used for classified information.
"Camouflage? Think about it for a moment. The White House got a call with the president of Ukraine? It's so secret, and such a cover-up, here are the documents, "said Sekulow. "It does not make sense."
The transcript itself showed that Trump was urging Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. Joe Biden acknowledged on camera when he was vice president, he had successfully pressured Ukraine to dismiss the prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, who was investigating the natural gas company Burisma Holdings – where Biden's son, Hunter, was occupying an extremely lucrative position. Biden's supporters say that Shokin has been widely accused of corruption.
The transcript shows that Trump is asking Ukraine to "look for" the Bidens, but does not show that the US president explicitly links this request to US aid – which had been frozen a few days earlier – a detail that has fueled the calls for removal earlier in the week and stimulated the House. President Nancy Pelosi is due to announce a formal impeachment inquiry on Tuesday.
Trump's allies, such as Sekulow, and others in the White House, used this distinction to maintain the statement that "there was no counterpart."
Meanwhile, the alarm launcher also claimed that Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, whom the president had cited in the appeal, could help Zelensky in any anti-corruption investigation, was unduly involved in interferences in the 2020 presidential elections.
Giuliani, however, defended her involvement by telling Fox News' Laura Ingraham: "I think I should get some sort of reward."
"What they accused of colluding with the Russians was really a Ukrainian collusion," Giuliani said in "The Ingraham Angle" on Thursday night. "I'm doing an effective job of showing what phonies are, and I'm discovering what you're going to find as a huge payment scheme."
Giuliani also said Thursday in the Atlantic that he thought he deserved praise for his involvement in Ukraine.
"It is impossible for the whistleblower to be a hero and I am not," he told the Atlantic. "And I will be the hero! These morons, when it's over, I'll be the hero.
But the Democrats use all the developments of this evolution as a way to feed as they hit the gas pedal in their dismissal procedure. Pelosi said on Friday that she did not have a clear timetable for the indictment, though it may "take time."
Pelosi also noted that the House committees involved in the process would investigate allegations of "cover-up" while claiming that Trump's comments on the whistleblower were "dangerous".
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"That the president says what he said about those who allegedly provided information to the whistleblower seriously undermines the integrity of the government," Pelosi said Friday. "But the president does it almost every day."
The House and Senate are on a break for the next two weeks, but MPs plan to use this time to talk to constituents and gain support for the process.
"Congress should speak to its constituents to find out their point of view and explain why they see it as such an important aspect of the ongoing investigation," said the leader of the majority of the Room, Steny Hoyer, D-Md. "I think that taking into account the public's point of view is of utmost importance."
And Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., First-year pro-impeachment representative, said members needed to "go home and educate them."
Adam Shaw, Chad Pergram and Matthew Reidy of Fox News contributed to this report.
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