WASHINGTON, DC - The whistleblower at the center of a complaint that helped launch an impeachment inquiry into President Trump is expected to testify privately before Congress if lawmakers can ensure his or her identity is safe.
President Trump wants to hear from the whistleblower too, tweeting, "I want to meet not only my accuser...but also the person who illegally gave this information."
The president is referring to White House officials who delivered the intel to the whistleblower.
Trump attorney Jay Sekulow says the intelligence community recently changed whistleblower rules before the allegations against Trump were submitted, saying up until recently the whistleblower complaint required "first-hand" information, but the whistleblower in this case only revealed "second-hand" information. In legal terms, that's called "hearsay."
The Federalist has confirmed what Sekulow said, explaining, "Hearsay is generally inadmissible as evidence in U.S. federal and state courts since it violates the constitutional requirement that the accused be given the opportunity to question his accusers."
"It's all hearsay, you can't get a parking ticket conviction based on hearsay," Trump friend and ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said in an interview with CBS.
The complaint against President Trump says he pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter's dealings in Ukraine.
President Trump's former Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert said he's troubled by the call. "It is a bad day and a bad week for this president and for this country if he is asking for political dirt on an opponent," Bossert told ABC This Week.
Meanwhile, Democratic members of the House have launched a slew of subpoenas against the State Department and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
They also say they may need to hear from Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani who is mentioned a number of times in the complaint. He says he may talk to Congress but will not speak to Rep. Adam Schiff, saying he would rather speak to someone who isn't prejudiced. Schiff chairs the House Intel Committee and has been leading the case for impeachment.
"I have to imagine they are going to fight us tooth and nail and yet even as they do the more they fight to try to prevent the lawful functions of Congress the more they are going to make a case for impeachment on obstruction of justice," Schiff told NBC's Meet the Press.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has this message for the White House. "Speak the truth and let us work together to have this be a unifying experience not a dividing one for our country," Pelosi told CBS' 60 Minutes.
Recent polling shows the country is already divided with support increasing for an impeachment inquiry, mostly among Democrats and independents. But Trump supporters aren't buying it.
Pastor Robert Jeffress told Fox News, "The Democrats don't care if they burn down and destroy this nation in the process. I have never seen the Evangelical Christians more angry over any issue than this attempt to illegitimately remove this President from office, overturn the 2016 election, and negate the votes of millions of Evangelicals in the process." Trump tweeted out what Jeffress said:
....Election, and negate the votes of millions of Evangelicals in the process. They know the only Impeachable offense that President Trump has committed was beating Hillary Clinton in 2016. That’s the unpardonable sin for which the Democrats will never forgive him.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2019
Meanwhile, the Biden campaign sent a letter to the major news networks calling on them to stop having Giuliani on their shows, claiming he's spreading "debunked conspiracy theories."
Did you know?
God is everywhere—even in the news. That’s why we view every news story through the lens of faith. We are committed to delivering quality independent Christian journalism you can trust. But it takes a lot of hard work, time, and money to do what we do. Help us continue to be a voice for truth in the media by supporting CBN News for as little as $1.
Support CBN News
