White House has reportedly accepted whistleblower will likely speak to Congress soon

The White House does not believe there's a way to block the whistleblower who lodged a complaint against President Trump from meeting with congressional investigators, and officials are now working on a deal to allow the person to speak with them, two people with knowledge of the matter told The New York Times on Tuesday.

The complaint is reportedly linked to a phone call Trump had in July with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Trump asked him multiple times to launch an investigation into the business dealings of Hunter Biden, the son of 2020 presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden. After the complaint was filed in August, Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson marked it as being of "urgent concern," and passed it on to acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire.

Under the law, Maguire was supposed to give the complaint to Congress, but he said he consulted with the Justice Department and was told the complaint was not under the DNI's jurisdiction and also didn't meet the definition of urgent concern. This is what led to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announcing on Tuesday afternoon that she has directed the House to open a formal impeachment inquiry against Trump.

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The whistleblower's attorney sent Maguire a letter on Monday, saying his client wants to meet with lawmakers but needs the DNI's approval, the Times reports. Lawyers for the intelligence community have been speaking with White House and Justice Department officials to figure out the next steps, the Times says, so the whistleblower can discuss the complaint without worrying about executive privilege. A White House official told Politico that Trump has approved sending the complaint to Congress by the end of the week.

Earlier Tuesday, House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) confirmed that the whistleblower's attorney says his client is ready to speak to the committee, and Schiff said he looks forward to "the whistleblower's testimony as soon as this week."