The House just released the redacted whistleblower complaint at the center of the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump, right before the House Intelligence Hearing in which the nation’s top intelligence official will testify.
The complaint not only outlines the president’s July 25 call with Ukraine’s president, but the nine-page document also alleges Trump “using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election,” as well as his efforts to suppress records of the phone call conversation.
Shortly before the hearing was set to begin this morning, the House Intelligence Committee released a declassified version of the complaint in which the whistleblower wrote about the White House trying to “lock down” records of the call at the center of the impeachment inquiry, initially.
According to CNBC, the complaint, based on the accounts of more than half a dozen U.S. officials, implicates more than Trump. It also calls his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani a “central figure” in the effort. It also says Attorney General William Barr “appears to be involved as well.”
The House Intelligence Committee Chief Joseph Maguire is now testifying and is set to face what CBS News calls “fierce interrogation from lawmakers over his decision to withhold the whistleblower’s complaint.”
Maguire, who served in the Navy for 36 years, said in his opening testimony,
“I respect you, I respect this committee, and I welcome and take seriously the committee’s oversight role.”
The acting director of national intelligence also told the Capital Hill Lawmakers, “I am not partisan, I am not political.”
