WASHINGTON, DC — Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire testified before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday, his testimony being the latest chapter in a scandal enveloping the Trump administration that prompted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to call for an official impeachment inquiry of President Trump even though she had resisted the prospect in the past.
On Wednesday, Maguire delivered the whistleblower complaint filed against Trump to Congress after initially not turning it over to lawmakers. And on Thursday, the complaint was released by the House committee.
The complaint was filed on Aug. 12 and the whistleblower writes that they have received information from multiple U.S. governmnet officials that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election. The whistleblower writes that the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is a “central figure” in the effort and that Attorney General Bill Barr appears to be involved as well. It also alleges a cover up by the White House to “lock down” all records of the phone call. (Read more about the complaint’s contents via The New York Times.)
The complaint centers around a phone call that Trump had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Trump asks Zelensky for a “favor” and asks him to find out what happened with Crowdstrike, a California company that investigated the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee, according to a document from the White House that described the contents of the call.
» Read the whistleblower’s complaint.
In the call, Trump also tell Zelensky that a lot of people “want to find out about” Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. As The New York Times reported, Trump was referring to “unfounded allegations” that Biden tried to stop the prosecution of a company his son worked for.
The New York Times and others have reported that Trump withheld $391 million in aid to Ukraine prior to the call.
On Wednesday, The Washington Post reported that Maguire threatened to resign because he was concerned the White House would try to make him obstruct Congress in his testimony Thursday about the whistleblower complaint. Maguire and the White House have denied this allegation.
Maguire appeared before the House Intelligence Committee at 9 a.m. on Thursday. You can watch a replay of his testimony on Patch.
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