Oct. 7 (UPI) — A second whistle-blower has presented information about President Donald Trump’s call with the president of Ukraine, which is at the center of an impeachment inquiry, the person’s attorney said Sunday.
Attorney Mark Zaid, who also represents the first whistle-blower, wrote on Twitter on Sunday morning that the one has “firsthand knowledge” of the situation and had also made a protected disclosure under the law preventing them from being retaliated against.
Zaid told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos off camera the second whistle-blower was interviewed by the head of the intelligence community’s internal watchdog office, Michael Atkinson.
The original whistle-blower’s report stated that Trump had asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, in exchange for the release of military funding.
A description of the call publicly released by the White House included Trump asking Zelensky to investigate why Ukraine’s top prosecutor had ended an investigation into a Ukrainian gas company where Hunter Biden served as a board member.
Trump has maintained there was no wrong-doing, describing the call as “perfect” and merely congratulatory.
On Saturday, Trump dismissed both whistle-blowers in a tweet saying that they had only “second hand” information.
The first so-called second-hand information “Whistleblower” got my phone conversation almost completely wrong, so now word is they are going to the bench and another “Whistleblower” is coming in from the Deep State, also with second hand info. Meet with Shifty. Keep them coming!
Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani also responded to the whistle-blower news Sunday, describing it as an orchestrated campaign against the president.
The emergence of a second whistle-blower comes after House Democrats on Thursday released 25 pages of text message exchanges among Trump administration officials discussing dealings with Ukraine involving former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Kurt Volker, Giuliani, Ukrainian official Andriy Yermak and others.
A trio of House committees will continue their investigation into the phone call this week by hearing testimony from George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary in the European and Eurasian Bureau, State Department counselor T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
House Democrats are also awaiting documents related to the call from Giuliani and issued a similar subpoena seeking documents from Vice President Mike Pence last week.
