Schumer calls on Congress to get whistleblower complaint
Schumer said later today he will request the unanimous consent of the Senate to pass a resolution calling for the whistleblower complaint to be provided to the Senate and House Intelligence committees as 'prescribed by law'.
"The law says this must be transmitted to Congress, well, we still have not received the whistleblower complaint and Congress has been advised by writing from the Inspector General of the intelligence community that the Trump administration is preventing us from getting this report," Schumer said.
Separately on Tuesday, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, was to meet with senior Democrats to consider impeaching Trump. Under the U.S. Constitution, the House has the power to impeach a president for "high crimes and misdemeanors" and the Senate then holds a trial on whether to remove the president from office.
Pelosi had in the past opposed impeachment efforts but appeared to be moving closer as Democrats demand that the Trump administration release details of a whistleblower complaint and the transcript of his call with Ukraine's president.
Arriving at the United Nations, Trump on Tuesday confirmed that he had wanted the money for Ukraine frozen, saying he wanted European countries to provide assistance to Kiev, but changed his mind after "people called me."
However, Trump told reporters as he arrived at the United Nations that he still felt other nations should be paying to help Ukraine. "The money was paid, but very importantly, Germany, France, other countries should put up money," Trump said.
Trump on Monday had denied trying to coerce Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a July 25 phone call to launch a corruption investigation into political rival Joe Biden, the frontrunner for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, and Biden's son in return for the U.S. military aid.
Trump on Tuesday indicated that he expects a "readout" of the phone call with Ukraine's president to be made public.
"And when you see the call, when you see the readout of the call, which I assume you'll see at some point, you'll understand. That call was perfect. It couldn't have been nicer," Trump told reporters.
