"Multiple" whistleblowers have come forward as House Democrats have launched an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Photo / AP
"Multiple" whistleblowers have come forward as House Democrats have launched an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Photo / AP
An attorney for the whistleblower who raised the alarm about President Donald Trump's communications with Ukraine said Sunday that "multiple" whistleblowers have come forward.
The news, which comes as House Democrats have launched an impeachment inquiry and are subpoenaing the White House for documents, adds to the deepening political crisis facing the president.
"IC WHISTLEBLOWER UPDATE: I can confirm that my firm and my team represent multiple whistleblowers in connection to the underlying August 12, 2019, disclosure to the Intelligence Community Inspector General," the attorney, Andrew Bakaj, said in a tweet. "No further comment at this time."
Mark Zaid, who also is a member of the original whistleblower's legal team, confirmed to The Washington Post that the team is now representing a second whistleblower, who works in the intelligence community. The second individual has spoken to the inspector general of the intelligence community and has not filed a complaint. "Doesn't need to," Zaid said.
This person has "first hand knowledge that supported the first whistleblower," Zaid said in a text message to The Post. He added that he does not know whether the individual is the same person who was mentioned in a New York Times report on Friday.
News that the original whistleblower's team is representing a second whistleblower was first reported Sunday by ABC News.
Trump on Sunday continue to lash out at Democrats and some Republican detractors, including Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, whose impeachment the president demanded Saturday after Romney criticised him.
"The Democrats are lucky that they don't have any Mitt Romney types," Trump tweeted. "They may be lousy politicians, with really bad policies (Open Borders, Sanctuary Cities etc.), but they stick together!"
President Donald Trump on Sunday continued to lash out at Democrats. Photo / AP
Trump's Republican primary challengers also sharply criticized the president's actions on Sunday.
Former congressman Joe Walsh, R.-Ill., said on CNN's "State of the Union" that he considers Trump "a traitor" who "is a threat to this country" and "deserves to be impeached."
"Nobody from the White House and no high-level Republicans are on the show today, because there's nothing to defend," Walsh said, referring to host Jake Tapper's claim that while the show had contacted the White House and Republicans in both chambers of Congress, no one had agreed to come on to address the impeachment charges. "There's enough we know now to impeach this president."
Former South Carolina governor and Republican congressman Mark Sanford, who appeared on the show alongside Walsh, called the descriptions of Trump's behavior "troubling" and "wrong" but stopped short of deeming it impeachable.
Asked whether he'd vote for impeachment if he were in the House now, Sanford said, "I don't know. I suspect so."
Other Republicans on Sunday sought to play down Trump's comments, including his exchange with reporters outside the White House on Thursday in which he urged China to investigate former vice president Joe Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.
In an interview on ABC News's "This Week," Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, echoed a suggestion on Friday by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., that Trump's China statement was not "a real request."
"George, you really think he was serious about thinking that China's going to investigate the Biden family? ... I think he's getting the press all spun up about this," Jordan told host George Stephanopoulos.
During the interview, Stephanopoulos repeatedly sought an answer from Jordan on whether he believes it's appropriate for Trump to ask China and Ukraine to investigate Biden. Jordan dodged the question more than a dozen times.
"I think Senator Rubio had it exactly right," Jordan said. "I think most Americans say this is exactly what the president was doing. You would think after, like I said, a few years of following this president, you would understand sort of how this guy communicates."
On "Fox News Sunday," Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah, a Republican member of the Intelligence Committee, said he was "not at all" concerned about reports of a second whistleblower and defended Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky.
Referring to Trump's request that Zelensky "look into" Biden, Stewart said: "(Trump) did that because he has knowledge of possible corruption ... That's all the president is doing here."
Democrats, meanwhile, defended their party's efforts to pursue an inquiry into Trump.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a key member of House Democratic leadership, said on "This Week" that "the evidence of wrongdoing by Donald Trump is hiding in plain sight."
"The president betrayed his oath of office," Jeffries said. "He's engaged in serious wrongdoing. The administration, without justification, withheld $391 million in military aid from a vulnerable Ukraine. The president then pressured a foreign leader to interfere in the 2020 elections and target an American citizen for political gain. That is textbook abuse of power."
Rep. Val Demings of Florida, a Democratic member of the Intelligence Committee, defended House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's view that no vote by the full House is necessary for an impeachment inquiry to move forward.
"There is no requirement under the Constitution that we have a full House vote," Demings said on "Fox News Sunday." "There is no requirement under House rules that we have a full House vote."
She added that she believes the House "will have to take a serious look at articles of impeachment" based on the evidence that has emerged.
