Trump dismisses growing furor over ‘highly partisan’ whistleblower complaint

President Trump on Friday dismissed the growing furor surrounding a whistleblower complaint that he had an inappropriate conversation with a foreign leader, insisting that the interaction in question was a “perfectly fine and respectful conversation.”

The president once again took to Twitter to defend his conduct as new details emerged about the complaint, which came from a member of the intelligence community.

{mosads}”The Radical Left Democrats and their Fake News Media partners, headed up again by Little Adam Schiff, and batting Zero for 21 against me, are at it again!” Trump tweeted, referring to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).

“They think I may have had a ‘dicey’ conversation with a certain foreign leader based on a ‘highly partisan’ whistleblowers statement,” he added. “Strange that with so many other people hearing or knowing of the perfectly fine and respectful conversation, that they would not have also come forward. Do you know the reason why they did not? Because there was nothing said wrong, it was pitch perfect!”

….statement. Strange that with so many other people hearing or knowing of the perfectly fine and respectful conversation, that they would not have also come forward. Do you know the reason why they did not? Because there was nothing said wrong, it was pitch perfect!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 20, 2019

The Washington Post and New York Times reported late Thursday that a conversation between Trump and the Ukrainians was the subject of the complaint.

A short time later, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani went on CNN and acknowledged he’d asked Ukraine to look into potential corruption involving Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Further driving scrutiny about the complaint is the administration’s decision to release military aid to Ukraine after a delay that had frustrated lawmakers in both parties.

The inspector general for the intelligence community, Michael Atkinson, declined to discuss the details of the whistleblower complaint with members of the House Intelligence Committee during a closed door meeting on Thursday.

Trump is set to welcome the Australian prime minister at the White House on Friday morning for a state visit. The president will likely be asked about the whistleblower complaint during a press conference later Friday morning.