Journalists and lawmakers called for the impeachment of President Donald Trump after the whistleblower complaint was released Thursday morning.
An intelligence whistleblower issued a complaint against Trump alleging to have information from “multiple” government officials that the president asked Ukraine for help ahead of the 2020 election. The complaint notes that the whistleblower was not a direct witness to most of the events written down, and is largely focused on a July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
A transcript of the phone call was released Wednesday, and a number of media figures sounded off on Twitter after the complaint was released Thursday morning. (RELATED: Multiple Outlets Chop Up Ukraine Transcript, Focusing Only On Trump’s Comment On Biden)
“They’re all going to jail,” journalist and novelist David Leavitt tweeted with photos of the complaint.
They’re all going to jail #WhistleblowerComplaint pic.twitter.com/CLyauQzUbH
— David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) September 26, 2019
“When the#Whistleblower wrote the #WhistleblowerComplaint, there was already an ‘ongoing discussion’ among White House staff and lawyers on how to protect the President, because they knew they had ‘witnessed the President abuse his office for personal gain,'” Democratic Florida Rep. Val Demings wrote.
“They ‘locked down’ records of the call, and even removed the transcript from the computer systems where it was supposed to be kept. They knew the President had violated his oath of office,” Demings also tweeted.
Democratic Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal told Q13 Fox’s Brandi Kruse Friday morning that she would be ready to vote on impeachment, adding that first the “process” needs to be finished.
WATCH:
.@RepJayapal on #Q13FOX: “I would be ready to vote to impeach the president, but I think we need to finish this process.” #WhistleblowerComplaint pic.twitter.com/XLzXABUHHJ
— Brandi Kruse (@BrandiKruse) September 26, 2019
Maya Wiley, NBC News and MSNBC legal analyst suggested “no responsible member of Congress” could read the complaint and disregard the “impeachable offenses.”
“Anything less than a full throttled investigation that is fast, public & non-partisan endangers further our already weakened #democracy,” Wiley added.
Even with #impeachment, we will have a very tall mountain to climb to restore faith in government, particularly
Even with #impeachment, we will have a very tall mountain to climb to restore faith in government, particularly government lawyers. As someone who has served in both federal and #NYC govt roles as a lawyer, I hang my head low today & recommit to climbing this mountain.
— Maya Wiley (@mayawiley) September 26, 2019
Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell wrote that there are “3 takeaways from the #WhistleblowerComplaint,” one of which was that Trump had “transcripts hidden to protect ‘politically sensitive'” information and “massive cover-up efforts.” Fox News contributor Richard A. Fowler added that “the #WhistleblowerComplaint and the White House released ‘transcript’ are almost identical!”
“Foreign govts are reading this. We CANNOT have foreign powers believe they can leverage @POTUS by helping his political campaign,” Democratic California Rep. Ted Lieu wrote, calling it a “damning portrayal of the abuse of power.”
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