The whistleblower complaint focused upon a controversial July 25 conversation between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was released Thursday, revealing White House officials were “deeply concerned” about Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s “circumvention of national security decision-making.”
The complaint was declassified late Wednesday night and was released to the public on Thursday just before acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire testified in front of the House Intelligence Committee where he defended the “good faith” of the whistleblower.
The transcript of the Trump-Zelensky call was released Wednesday morning and showed Trump asked for Ukraine’s help in investigating a conspiracy theory related to the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which determined the Russians hacked the Democratic National Committee’s email systems. Trump urged the Ukrainian leader to look into whether there was any Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 election and suggested that the Ukrainians investigate allegations of corruption related to 2020 Democrat Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Trump urged Zelensky to speak with his Giuliani, his personal attorney, and Attorney General William Barr. Giuliani has spent months urging Ukraine to investigate possible Ukrainian election interference and the Bidens.
“In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple U.S. government 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 wrote. “The interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President’s main domestic political rivals. The President’s personal lawyer, Mr. Rudolph Giuliani, is a central figure in this effort.”
The whistleblower, whose identity is still unknown, provided their nine-page complaint in August to Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, who determined that the complaint was of an “urgent concern” and “appeared credible,” although Maguire consulted with the Justice Department and determined the complaint fell outside the statutory requirements which would compel him to hand it over to Congress.
The whistleblower alleged “Attorney General William Barr appears to be involved as well,” although the Justice Department denies Barr ever spoke to Trump about it.
“Starting in mid-May, I heard from multiple U.S. officials that they were deeply concerned by what they viewed as Mr. Giuliani’s circumvention of national security decision making processes to engage with Ukrainian officials and relay messages back and forth between Kyiv and the President,” wrote the whistleblower.
The whistleblower admitted in the complaint that they were “not a direct witness to most of the events described” but said they had spoken with numerous White House officials with knowledge.
Giuliani said Thursday that these allegations were “total nonsense.”
The whistleblower said government officials told them State Department officials, including Ambassadors Kurt Volker and Gordon Sondland, had spoken with Giuliani “in an attempt to ‘contain the damage’ to U.S. national security.” Volker is the U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations and Sondland is the U.S. ambassador to the European Union. In addition, the whistleblower said those ambassadors “met with members of the new Ukrainian administration and, in addition to discussing policy matters, sought to help Ukrainian leaders understand and respond to the differing messages they were receiving from official U.S. channel on the one hand, and from Mr. Giuliani on the other.”
During a trip by Volker and Sondland to Ukraine the day after the July 25 call, the whistleblower said readouts from their meetings there showed the ambassadors tried to advise Ukrainian leadership “about how to ‘navigate’ the demands’ Trump made of Zelensky.
Giuliani, who claims the State Department gave him the green light to carry out his mission in Ukraine, has said Volker called him in July, and the State Department recently said that Volker put Giuliani “in direct contact” with top Zelensky adviser Andriy Yermak. Giuliani also says he briefed Sondland about his efforts in Ukraine.
On Thursday, Pompeo said he hadn’t yet read the whistleblower complaint but said the State Department acted properly.
The whistleblower also said multiple U.S. officials told them that “Ukrainian leadership was led to believe that a meeting or phone call between the President and President Zelensky would depend on whether Zelensky showed willingness to ‘play ball’ on the issues that had been publicly aired” by Giuliani and by former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, whom Giuliani had been working with and whom Zelensky replaced at the end of August.
The whistleblower further alleged that U.S. officials told him that Trump canceled Vice President Mike Pence’s May trip to Ukraine to attend Zelensky’s inauguration, sending Energy Secretary Rick Perry instead, claiming it was “made clear” to these officials that Trump didn’t want to meet with Zelensky “until he saw how Zelensky ‘chose to act’ in office.”
U.S. officials said in August that “some Ukrainian officials were aware that U.S. aid might be in jeopardy,” the whistleblower wrote.
The hundreds of millions of dollars in military assistance, delayed for months, were finally released earlier in September.
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham dismissed the allegations on Thursday.
“Nothing has changed with the release of this complaint, which is nothing more than a collection of third-hand accounts of events and cobbled-together press clippings — all of which shows nothing improper,” Grisham said.
