Top Democrats on Intelligence Committee: Trump-Ukraine Whistleblower Wants to Testify Before Congress

Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) have both claimed that the whistleblower who submitted the “urgent” report on President Donald Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president is taking steps to come forward and speak out.

The House Intelligence Committee chairman and the Senate Intelligence Committee ranking Democrat have both said that the whistleblower has reached out to Capitol Hill, asking to speak with both committees. While Warner told Politico’s Burgess Everett that the process is still being worked out, Schiff says the whistleblower is pursuing guidance to obtain legal clearance from Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire.

We have been informed by the whistleblower’s counsel that their client would like to speak to our committee and has requested guidance from the Acting DNI as to how to do so.

We‘re in touch with counsel and look forward to the whistleblower’s testimony as soon as this week.

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) September 24, 2019

Sen. Warner: “The lawyer for the whistleblower has reached out for a counsel meeting but we’re going to have to take this one step a time and I think it’s terribly important to get the facts”

Won’t say if whistleblower meeting is scheduled.

I am told it hasn’t been yet

— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) September 24, 2019

The comments from Warner and Schiff come just after President Trump announced on Twitter that he will release the phone transcripts from his conversation with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. This will most likely shed some light on how Trump supposedly put the Ukrainian government under pressure to launch an investigation into the Biden family’s dealings with the country, though critics are demanding the release of the whistleblower report to Congress as well.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump admitted that his administration withheld $400 million in military aid to Ukraine just days before the Zelensky call. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is said to make a formal announcement later today on whether she will approve an impeachment inquiry against the president.

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