Washington, Sep. 30 (IANS): US President Donald Trump has said that he deserved to meet his accuser in reference to the anonymous whistleblower whose complaint has alleged that Trump tried to induce the Ukrainian government to take actions against former Vice President Joe Biden.
“Like every American, I deserve to meet my accuser, especially when this accuser, the so-called ‘Whistleblower’, represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way,” Trump tweeted on Sunday.
In another tweet, the President targeted House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff who had confirmed earlier on Sunday that there was a tentative deal for the whistleblower to testify.
“His lies were made in perhaps the most blatant and sinister manner ever seen in the great Chamber. He wrote down and read terrible things, then said it was from the mouth of the President of the United States. I want Schiff questioned at the highest level for fraud and Treason,” Trump added.
Trump’s tweet comes after US media outlets on Friday revealed that the whisleblower was a Central Intelligence Office (CIA), adding that he had once worked at the White House.
In reaction to the revelation, the lawyers for the whistleblower wrote a letter to the Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire on Saturday over concerns that their “client’s identity will be disclosed publicly” and as a result, “our client will be put in harm’s way”.
The complaint dated August 12 refers to a controversial phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25, where the American leader pushes his counterpart to investigate corruption claims involving Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.
“In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple US government officials that the President of the US is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 US election,” the whistleblower wrote in the complaint dated August 12.
“This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President’s main domestic political rivals,” he said, describing Trump’s personal lawyer, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, as “a central figure in this effort”.
The complaint was addressed to Senator Richard Burr and Schiff, the respective chairmen of the Senate and House panels charged with overseeing intelligence, Efe news reported.
House Democrats on September 24 opened an impeachment inquiry against the Trump, accusing him of seeking foreign help in the hope of smearing Joe Biden and of using military aid to Ukraine as a potential bargaining tool.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and dismissed the impeachment proceedings as a “hoax” and “another witch-hunt”.
