Schiff Accused of Coordinating with Whistleblower as Dems Announce White House Subpoena

WASHINGTON, DC – The battle over impeachment rages on in the nation's capital as President Trump lashes out at Democrats after they announced they would subpoena the White House for documents related to Ukraine.

But now there are revelations the whistleblower went to a certain congressman before releasing the complaint.

"We don't call him shifty for nothing," President Trump said of House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) Wednesday in the Oval Office.

At the heart of the matter is a CIA officer's whistleblower complaint that Trump pressed Ukraine's leader to investigate Joe Biden and his son.

Trump maintains that the transcript of the call is an exoneration.

"Here's where I fooled them," Trump said referring to Democrats. "They never thought I'd release the conversation. They never thought in a million years I'd release the conversation."

Meanwhile, Democrats say this is no joke.

"We're not fooling around here," said Schiff in the news conference with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) where they announced they would subpoena the White House.

There are serious questions surrounding Schiff though after it was reported the whistleblower first went to his office. Namely, what did Schiff know about the complaint and its release? And was this a coordinated effort?

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) tweeted, "This is a carefully orchestrated plot to overthrow the duly elected President of the United States. We need answers, and we need accountability!"

And conservative radio host Bill Mitchell tweeted, "So Schiff knew all about the whistleblower complaint despite saying he had been kept in the dark. The plot thickens."

So Schiff knew all about the whistleblower complaint despite saying he had been kept in the dark.

The plot thickens. https://t.co/EJklWK6YSN

— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) September 26, 2019

There are more concerns too that the investigation may now be done largely behind closed doors after Pelosi handed over the investigation to the House Intelligence Committee.

"I think the president knows the argument that can be made against him, and he's scared," Pelosi told ABC news in an interview that aired Thursday morning.

Former State Department Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volcker will be deposed in a closed hearing Thursday and more White House officials are being pulled into the controversy with revelations Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and an aide to Vice President Mike Pence were on the call.

At the same time, the State Department's Inspector General turned over documents to key House and Senate committees. Democratic leaders say the packet was full of debunked conspiracy theories, but one report says a Ukrainian prosecutor told Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani that he was ordered to back off the investigation into Hunter Biden's involvement in that Ukrainian company.

As to the whistleblower, overnight his lawyer pushed back on the suggestion that he worked with Schiff's office to draft the complaint. In a statement the lawyer says the whistleblower wrote it entirely on his own.