National security officials raised concerns before Trump’s Ukraine call: report

by Rachel Frazin - 10/10/19 8:39 PM ET

At least four national security officials raised concerns to a White House lawyer over the Trump administration’s attempts to pressure Ukraine before and immediately following President Trump’s call with Ukraine’s president, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

It was not previously reported that officials raised concerns before the call with President Volodymyr Zelensky that resulted in a whistleblower complaint and impeachment inquiry into Trump.

The Post reported that officials had been concerned by the May ouster of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, conspiracy theories pushed by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and signs in meetings that Trump wanted information that could hurt Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. {mosads}

The newspaper added that within minutes of the July 25 call, top officials were being asked by others about possible problems with what Trump had said to Zelensky.

“When people were listening to this in real time there were significant concerns about what was going on — alarm bells were kind of ringing,” one person familiar told the newspaper. “People were trying to figure out what to do, how to get a grasp on the situation.”

Officials reportedly brought complaints to National Security Council legal adviser John Eisenberg. It is not clear if these were the same officials who spoke with the whistleblower.

The Post reported that within hours of the call, a rough transcript put together by aides was moved to a network for classified intelligence information. The whistleblower complaint said that White House officials had been “‘directed’ by White-House lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored.”

An official who listened to the conversation spoke “immediately” with Eisenberg, the Post reported. A person familiar told the paper two others who had heard the call or seen the rough transcript did the same.

It is not clear if Eisenberg acted on the concerns. One official told the Post that the lawyer had promised to “follow-up,” which was reportedly interpreted to mean he would look into the matter and possibly speak with White House counsel Pat Cipollone.

The White House has released a rough transcript of the Trump-Zelensky call in which Trump asked the foreign leader to look into Biden, one of the 2020 Democratic front-runners.

House Democrats have launched an impeachment inquiry into the matter, although Trump has denied wrongdoing.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.

Tags Donald Trump Impeachment Joe Biden National Security Council Rudy Giuliani Ukraine White House