House Democrat: ‘Deeply troubling’ whistleblower report has ‘multiple witnesses’

Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said early Thursday that the whistleblower complaint regarding President Trump’s interactions with the leader of Ukraine includes multiple witnesses. 

Appearing on CNN’s “New Day” just a day after reviewing the complaint, Demings said that the documents included in it are “deeply troubling” and give members of Congress a clear “trail of evidence” to investigate. 

“Look, this is not a good day for America. This is a dark day for America,” she said, before describing the complaint as “quite disturbing.”

“It is deeply troubling,” Democratic Rep. Val Demings says after reading the classified version of the whistleblower complaint about President Trump’s communication with Ukraine, adding that it has “multiple witnesses” https://t.co/NCW42hPOmw pic.twitter.com/vzr3KHgkWe

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 26, 2019

{mosads}”It lays out several elements of things that any member of Congress and, quite frankly, any American should be concerned about,” she added. “It has multiple witnesses and as a member of the Intelligence Committee, there’s clearly a trail of evidence and witnesses that we can talk to and documents and other things that we can review.”

The whistleblower complaint accuses Trump and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, of a broad effort to influence Ukrainian officials over time, according to The Washington Post. 

The complaint also reportedly focuses on a July 25 phone call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, over allegations of corruption. 

The White House on Wednesday released a partial transcript showing that Trump asked Zelensky during the call to work with Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr to look into the Bidens. 

The request occurred around the same time that Trump delayed hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, raising speculation from Democrats as to whether he used the aid as part of a quid pro quo. Trump has denied discussing military aid in his conversations with the Ukrainian leader. 

The House Intelligence Committee gained first access to the whistleblower complaint on Wednesday night. Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) announced shortly after their review that the documents had been declassified. 

It remains unclear how the complaint will be released to the public, however. 

Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire had initially declined to hand over the complaint to the Intelligence Committee. He is set to testify before Congress on Thursday regarding his handling of it.