Democrats outraged, Republicans nonplussed by Trump call

WASHINGTON ­— House Democrats compared President Donald Trump’s telephone call with the Ukrainian president to a “mafia shakedown,” while Republicans downplayed any wrongdoing as House and Senate lawmakers reviewed a whistleblower’s complaint after the White House released it in the afternoon.

Republicans dismissed the significance of a rough transcript of the telephone call made July 25 by Trump to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, where Trump urged an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, who was on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.

“If you’re looking for a circumstance where the president of the United States was threatening the Ukrainian president with cutting off aid unless he investigated his political opponent, you would be very disappointed,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“That does not exist,” Graham added.

But Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he was shocked that the White House released the transcript, because after Zelenskiy brings up the need for military aid, Trump seeks “a favor” that ultimately includes an investigation into the Bidens.

The entire tenor of the transcript, Schiff told reporters, was one of a “classic, mafia-like shakedown of a foreign leader.”

The acting director of national intelligence, Joe Maguire, is expected to appear before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday.

As the whistleblower complaint was headed to the committees Wednesday, the House debated a resolution to release it.

The complaint was made available to congressional intelligence committee members and staff in the afternoon.

The House later voted 420-0 to pass a nonbinding resolution to release the whistleblower’s complaint to congressional committees and to urge Maguire to allow the whistleblower to contact the committees.

Impeachment inquiry underway

The flurry of congressional activity came one day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., opened an impeachment inquiry into the president’s conduct following the disclosure of the telephone call and the whistleblower complaint about his remarks to the Ukrainian president.

The disclosure of the transcript clearly heightened the partisan wrangling over the impeachment inquiry.

“The call summary clearly shows that President Trump asked the leader of a foreign government to interfere in our election,” said Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., who hours earlier was leading a subcommittee investigative hearing into the president’s land holdings.

“The Trump administration must immediately release the full whistleblower complaint and allow the whistleblower to testify before Congress as the law requires,” Titus said.

Biden also weighed in with a statement issued by his campaign.

“It is a tragedy for this country that our president put personal politics above his sacred oath,” he said in the statement.

Biden, a front-runner in the Democratic field for the presidential nomination, also said, “Congress must pursue the facts and quickly take prompt action to hold Donald Trump accountable.”

Republicans downplay call

While Democrats clamored for action, Republicans downplayed the call between the two leaders and accused Democrats of desperately seeking a reason to impeach the president.

“It is time to stop putting the American people through this nightmare,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

Republicans said Democrats were disheartened after the special counsel report by Robert Mueller left them lurching for impeachment, and they noted some House Democrats last week called for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh over alleged sexual assault in his youth.

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said Pelosi is “wasting her speakership trying to undo the results of the 2016 election.”

But Pelosi was determined in her call for an impeachment inquiry to expeditiously move on the most recent revelations with what she called Trump’s “betrayal” of the country by trying to involve a foreign government in U.S. elections.

She said while the whistleblower complaint moves to the House and Senate, “it is important to note that the complaint was determined by the inspector general to be a matter of ‘urgent concern’ and ‘credible.’ ”

Pelosi also called on the national security apparatus of the country to protect the whistleblower from White House and administration retaliation.

Trump has recently called the whistleblower a “partisan” while saying he does not know the identity of the person who tipped off the acting director of national intelligence about the telephone call and comments made by the president.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.