House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff said that Trump’s release of the phone call had provided Democrats with confirmation of the whistleblower complaint.
Chairman Schiff said:
When the inspector general found this whistleblower was credible, he was right, because what this whistleblower said about the nature of that call has been borne out in great detail by the call record that has now been released. In a very substantial part, this whistle-blower has already been found to be credible.
Whether the other allegations that go beyond this specific call will be borne out has yet to be determined and that will be the subject of our investigation. This whistleblower has given us a roadmap for our investigation. It’s important to underscore that what we are able to corroborate already about the whistle-blower has been corroborated in detail by this record of the president’s conversation with the president of Ukraine. That gives added weight and urgency to get to the bottom of the other allegations made by the whistleblower.
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Video:
Adam Schiff says Trump's release of the Ukraine phone call has backfired and given Democrats confirmation of the #whistleblowercomplaint pic.twitter.com/1Pxtn6gn6S
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) September 26, 2019
The rough notes of the phone call that Trump thought would clear him have only served to confirm the whistleblower’s complaint as accurate. Instead of saving himself, Trump gave Democrats more evidence to use against him.
Trump’s decision to release the call was a byproduct of his obsession with changing news cycles and getting good media coverage. Trump wasn’t thinking about the possible legal ramifications of releasing the call. He thought that it would exonerate him, and get him some good press. The reality is that the call along with the complaint offers a comprehensive picture of a president who tried to shake down a foreign country so that they would help him dig up dirt on his likely 2020 opponent.
Donald Trump made another horrible decision, and this one made it easier for Democrats to impeach him.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
