Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is demanding the Trump administration release a whistleblower report that is said to involve President Trump’s discussions with a world leader, saying the complaint should be made available to lawmakers immediately.
“If media reports are correct that President Trump delayed military aid appropriated by Congress in order to get Ukraine to investigate a political opponent, it’s difficult not to see that as an abuse of presidential authority, plain and simple,” Feinstein said in a statement that was released Saturday.
Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr on Friday requesting that the whistleblower complaint be made available to the “relevant Committees of Congress” as soon as possible.{mosads}
In the letter, Feinstein noted that the Intelligence Committee Whistleblower Protection Act requires the Director of National Intelligence to send “any whistleblower report from the Inspector General involving ‘a serious or flagrant problem, abuse, violation of law or Executive order, or deficiency relating to the funding, administration, or operation of an intelligence activity.'”
The whistleblower complaint filed by someone in the intelligence community is thought to relate to Trump’s dealings with a foreign government, with multiple media reports this week saying that it involves Ukraine.
Trump on Friday dismissed mounting scrutiny over the whistleblower complaint, asserting that it was “partisan” and “ridiculous,” although he acknowledged to reporters at the White House that he didn’t know who filed the complaint.
“Now that the Democrats and the Fake News Media have gone ‘bust’ on every other of their Witch Hunt schemes, they are trying to start one just as ridiculous as the others, call it the Ukraine Witch Hunt, while at the same time trying to protect Sleepy Joe Biden. Will fail again!” Trump tweeted Saturday.