Democrats call Trump whistleblower complaint 'disturbing'
(SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:
"No push. No pressure. No nothing. It's all a hoax, folks. It's all a big hoax."
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday delivered an uncharacteristically subdued defense of his July 25th phone call with the Ukrainian president, in which he asked him to investigate political rival Joe Biden - the impetus for an impeachment inquiry led by House Democrats.
(SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:
"It's a joke. Impeachment for that? When you have a wonderful meeting or you have a wonderful phone conversation?... but when you see what happened with the viciousness. And when you see little Adam Schiff go out and lie and lie and stand at the mic - smart guy, by the way - stand at the mic and act like he's so serious. And then he goes into a room with Nadler and they must laugh their asses off."
Standing at the mic moments later, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said he viewed - for the first time - the secret whistleblower complaint involving Trump, and called it "disturbing."
(SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SCHIFF, SAYING:
"I found the allegations deeply disturbing. I also found them very credible. I can understand why the inspector general found them credible even without the benefit yet of the inspector general's full analysis."
Underscoring the gravity of Trump's conduct on the phone, the intelligence community's inspector general issued a warning, which was included in a Justice Department legal opinion released Wednesday, that said Trump potentially exposed himself to "serious national security and counter-intelligence risks" when he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Biden and his son.
(SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY, SAYING:
"It's better to be on TV than by phone."
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump sat down with Zelenskiy, who said he was not pushed by Trump to investigate the former Vice President.
(SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY, SAYING:
"I don't want to be involved to democratic open... elections of U.S.A... and you read it, that nobody pushed me."
Trump then went on to attack his political rivals - past and present - including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi...
(SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:
"She's lost her way. She's been taken over by the radical left."
...repeated unsubstantiated claims about the former Vice President's son...
(SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:
"When Biden's son walks away with millions of dollars from Ukraine and he knows nothing, and they're paying him millions of dollars, that's corruption."
...and even went back to attacking his 2016 election opponent, Hillary Clinton.
(SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:
"One of the great crimes committed was Hillary Clinton deleting 33,000 emails after Congress sends her a subpoena."
On Thursday, Trump-appointed Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire will come under pressure from Democrats, when he testifies in front of congress over the administration's initial refusal to hand over a whistleblower complaint.
