Trump whistleblower complaint declassified: ‘This thing is bigger that I thought’
The complaint at the centre of Donald Trump’s Ukraine scandal has been declassified but is yet to be publicly released.
Members of congress took to Twitter and television to react to the document.
“The whistleblower complaint has been declassified. I encourage you all to read it,” said Chris Stewart, a Republican representative, on Wednesday evening.
A redacted version of the report is expected to be made public on Thursday morning, according to CNN and NBC.
Republican Ben Sasse, a member of the Senate intelligence committee, told reporters there were “real troubling things” in the materials.
“Republicans ought not to be rushing to circle the wagons and say there’s no there there when there’s obviously a lot that’s very troubling there.”
Joaquin Castro, a Democratic congressman, revealed he had seen the document.
“Just read the whistleblower report,” he said on Twitter.
“This thing is bigger that I thought.”
“I can describe that complaint as nothing short of explosive,” Jackie Speier, a Democratic California congresswoman, told MSNBC.
“It is so much more than the summary of the telephone call that has been presented by the White House as evidence.
“I can tell you that I was stunned.”
The complaint concerns a 25 July phone conversation between Mr Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine.
During the call Mr Trump appeared to pressure his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential hopeful.
“I will say that we do a lot for Ukraine,” he said, according to an incomplete memorandum released by the White House on Wednesday.
“We spend a lot of effort and a lot of time. Much more than the European countries are doing and they should be helping you more than they are.”
Mr Trump then asked the Ukrainian leader “to do us a favour”, urging him to look into an alleged issue involving the son of his 2020 rival Joe Biden.
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“The other thing, there’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that,” the president said.
“So whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great.”
Mr Trump has admitted he withheld $400m (£323m) in financial aid from Ukraine, though he denied his request for a probe was tied to the freeze of funds.
The call triggered the formal whistleblower complaint, which cited the exchange as a matter of “urgent concern”.
The person who filed the document is believed to be a member of the intelligence community and has asked to testify before congress.
Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, launched a formal impeachment inquiry on Tuesday after details of the president’s alleged conduct emerged.
“The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law,” she said, in remarks at Capitol Hill.
Mr Trump has denied all allegations of impropriety. The vast majority of Republicans have chosen to defend his behaviour.
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