Trump dismisses ‘great scam’ as second whistleblower ‘comes forward’ in impeachment probe
DONALD Trump has sought to dismiss the impeachment inquiry against him as a second whistleblower accuses him of misconduct.
Taking to twitter, the president said the probe was a “great scam”, and hit back at figures from within his own party who have publicly criticised him.
Trump is currently the subject of an impeachment process launched after revelations that he and his top officials had pressured leaders of other countries to investigate his political rivals.
The inquiry was initiated on September 24 after a report by a whistleblower alleged that Trump had withheld military aid as part of an attempt to persuade the president of Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden.
Biden is currently the favourite to face Trump as the Democratic Party’s candidate for president at the 2020 election.
Last week, the White House released a summary of a call between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25 of this year.
In the call, Zelensky askes Trump for an increase in military aid to fund Ukraine’s ongoing conflict with Russian-backed separatists in its east.
Trump responds by saying, “I would like you to do us a favour though”, and goes on to ask Zelensky to investigate unsubstantiated corruption allegations against Biden and his son Hunter, who previously served on the board of a large Ukrainian energy company.
‘URGENT CONCERN’
The call prompted a whistleblower from the intelligence community to file a report with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence expressing “urgent concern” that the president had used his office to “solicit interference from a foreign country” in the 2020 election.
Lawyers representing that whistleblower have now said a second whistleblower has come forward.
Mark Zaid told ABC News the second person was also an intelligence official and that they had spoken to the inspector general of the US Department of Justice.
No details have yet been released about the second whistleblower’s claims, but Mr Zaid said the person had firsthand knowledge of the allegations surrounding the call between Trump and Zelensky.
‘BRAZEN AND UNPRECEDENTED’
Responding to a tweet by a journalist claiming the impeachment was a “set up”, Trump wrote: “The great Scam is being revealed!”
He also responded to comments by former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who in a statement released on Friday said: “By all appearances, the President’s brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling.”
Trump has also publicly called on China to investigate Biden.
Referencing relatively low levels of infighting within the Democratic Party, Trump wrote: “The Democrats are lucky that they don’t have any Mitt Romney types.”
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The impeachment inquiry into Trump’s conduct is ongoing.
A USA Today/ Ipsos poll conducted earlier this week found 45 per cent of American supported impeachment compared to 38 per cent who opposed it.
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