The Whistleblower Complaint Has Been Released & It's A Doozy
Well everyone, I hope you've had your coffee today. On the morning of Thursday, Sept. 26, the infamous, anonymous whistleblower complaint about President Donald Trump was officially released to the public, leading Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Joseph Maguire to appear before the House Intelligence Committee on Sept. 26. For those who want to be in-the-know, you might be wondering what's in the whistleblower complaint? There are some serious allegations involved.
On Sept. 18, The Washington Post reported that an official whistleblower complaint had been filed, which involved allegations about the president and foreign nation Ukraine. Since then, the public has been eagerly awaiting to see what the complaint alleges, and without further ado it has arrived. On Thursday, Sept. 26, the House Intelligence Committee released the whistleblower complaint regarding a phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which President Trump suggested the foreign leader investigate Trump's possible 2020 presidential opponent Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden during a phone call on July 25. In the complaint, the anonymous whistleblower claims that they received information from "multiple U.S. government officials" that President Trump is attempted to "solicit interference from a foreign country to investigate one of the president's domestic political rivals" — namely, Biden. The president has denied wrongdoing, and in a statement to Elite Daily, the White House characterized the complaint as a "collection of third hand accounts" and stated that "nothing has changed" upon the release of the complaint.
The whistleblower also claimed that the White House attempted to withhold records of the phone call, and that White House lawyers issued orders to "remove the electronic transcript from the computer system" and instead load them to a separate electronic system that's used to store sensitive information. According to the complaint, a White House official called this action as "an abuse of this electronic system because the call did not contain anything remotely sensitive from a national security perspective."
In an emailed statement to Elite Daily, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said that the complaint was "third-hand accounts of events and cobbled-together press clippings" which showed "nothing improper." The statement continued,
The President took the extraordinary and transparent steps of releasing the full, unredacted, and declassified transcript of his call with President Zelensky, which forms the heart of the complaint, as well as the complaint itself. That is because he has nothing to hide. The White House will continue to push back on the hysteria and false narratives being peddled by Democrats and many in the main stream media, and President Trump will continue to work hard on behalf of the American people as he always does.
Although President Trump may be in the hot seat following this complaint, the document also mentions Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. In the document, the whistleblower claims that Giuliani had reportedly "privately reached out" to a number of Zelensky's advisers, such as Chief of Staff Andriy Bodhan and Acting Chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine Ivan Bakanov. However, the document notes that there's no information what Giuliani and the advisers discussed. Elite Daily reached out to Giuliani's team for comment on the complaint's allegations, but did not hear back in time for publication.
Prior to the whistleblower complaint's release, the White House released a non-verbatim transcript of Trump's phone call with Ukraine on Wednesday, Sept. 25. While speaking, Trump asked Zelensky for a "favor," which involved investigating Biden's son's business dealings in Ukraine. The call has received criticism from many, who allege that Trump is actively asking a foreign nation to investigate one of his political rivals. Trump's defenders have said that there was no "quid-pro-quo" request in the call.
So, you catch all that? The whistleblower complaint notes some serious allegations towards the Trump administration, and it's unlikely this controversy will die down anytime soon. Stay tuned, everyone.
