DNI to provide Congress with whistleblower complaint

The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) will provide a whistleblower complaint which includes President Trump’s conversation with the Ukrainian president to Congress on Wednesday, hours after the White House released a memorandum summarizing the call between the two leaders. The complaint, which has not yet been seen by members of Congress, precipitated Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to announce a formal impeachment inquiry on Tuesday.

Republican Congressman Devin Nunes, the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, said that the full complaint would be provided to Congress at or by 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr told reporters that his committee had received the whistleblower complaint shortly after 4 p.m.

The complaint involves the call between Mr. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25, during which Mr. Trump asked Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. The call came days after the Trump administration froze nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine. 

The complaint was submitted to the inspector general for the intelligence community, who found it to be of urgent concern. However, the Justice Department, which said that the complaint involved a possible campaign finance violation, reviewed the record of the call and determined that there had been no wrongdoing and concluded that “no further action was warranted,” according to spokesperson Kerri Kupec.

The White House released a document summarizing the call earlier on Wednesday, which revealed that the president had urged Zelensky to probe Biden and Hunter Biden, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company.

The president met with Zelensky in New York on Wednesday, where he is attending the opening of the United Nations General Assembly.

“I think you read everything. I think you read text,” the Ukrainian leader said, when asked whether he felt pressured to investigate the Bidens. “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be involved [in] democratic, open elections of USA. We had, I think, good phone call. It was normal.”

According to the memo, Zelensky said Ukraine was “almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States for defense purposes,” referring to powerful anti-tank missiles. Mr. Trump responded he “would like you to do us a favor though,” telling Zelensky he would like to find out what happened with “this whole situation with Ukraine.” Mr. Trump also mentioned CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company that helped investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Mr. Trump later mentioned “the other thing,” saying “there’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son.” Zelensky pledged that a new prosecutor would look into the case and asked for additional information. Mr. Trump told Zelensky he would have Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr call. The Justice Department, which released the memo of the call, said Wednesday that Barr never discussed anything related to Ukraine with Giuliani.

On Wednesday, Democrats said the memo was worse than they anticipated, with Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, saying it was reminiscent of a “classic mafia-like shakedown.” But Mr. Trump claimed that the document vindicated him and said that the memo showed no explicit quid pro quo with Ukraine.

Acting DNI Joseph Maguire will testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday. He disputed a report by the Washington Post that he had threatened to resign if the White House tried to block him from talking about the complaint before Congress. “I have never quit anything in my life, and I am not going to start now,” he said in a statement.

The whistleblower also wants to testify before the committee, according to Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff.

Stefan Becket, Kathryn Watson and Emily Tillett contributed to this report