Whistleblower filed complaint despite only hearing about Trump-Zelensky call secondhand. Their account of it is completely accurate.
One of the biggest arguments used by President Trump's allies against the whistleblower complaint just went bust.
They have claimed that even though an intelligence community whistleblower alleges Trump risked national security on a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the whistleblower didn't hear the call and thus can't be trusted. But the public has now seen both a memorandum of the phone call and the whistleblower's secondhand account of it — and they completely match up.
A rough transcript of the call released Wednesday shows Trump expressly urged Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, with Attorney General William Barr and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani. It prompted demands from Democrats to see the whole whistleblower report, but also pushback from Republicans like Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who tweeted that "the 'whistleblower' wasn't on the call" and a "secondhand account of the call" wouldn't reveal "more than the actual call."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Yet what the whistleblower heard from "White House officials who had direct knowledge of the call" was accurate, and apparently enough to cause concern. The whistleblower correctly notes that Trump "pressured Zelensky" to do the following: "Initiate or continue an investigation into" Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, "locate and turn over servers used by the Democratic National Committee and examined by the U.S. cyber security firm Crowdstike," and "meet or speak with" Giuliani and Barr, who were mentioned "multiple times in tandem."
It's also worth noting that the memorandum released Wednesday was not a word-by-word transcript of the call, but rather a memo based on notes.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
How will China’s $1 trillion trade surplus change the world economy?Today’s Big Question Europe may impose its own tariffs
-
‘Autarky and nostalgia aren’t cure-alls’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Japan’s Princess Aiko is a national star. Her fans want even more.IN THE SPOTLIGHT Fresh off her first solo state visit to Laos, Princess Aiko has become the face of a Japanese royal family facing 21st-century obsolescence
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign
-
Ex-FBI agents sue Patel over protest firingspeed read The former FBI agents were fired for kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest for ‘apolitical tactical reasons’
-
Trump unveils $12B bailout for tariff-hit farmersSpeed Read The president continues to insist that his tariff policy is working
-
Trump’s Comey case dealt new setbackspeed read A federal judge ruled that key evidence could not be used in an effort to reindict former FBI Director James Comey
-
Moscow cheers Trump’s new ‘America First’ strategyspeed read The president’s national security strategy seeks ‘strategic stability’ with Russia
-
Trump tightens restrictions for work visasSpeed Read The length of work permits for asylum seekers and refugees has been shortened from five years to 18 months
-
Supreme Court revives Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read Texas Republicans can use the congressional map they approved in August at President Donald Trump’s behest
