The attorneys representing the whistle-blower who made the allegation that United States President Donald Trump sought foreign help to interfere in the 2020 US Election have now confirmed the presence of a second whistle-blower.
Speaking to ABC News, Zaid said that the second whistle-blower was an intelligence official with ‘first-hand knowledge’ of the allegations mentioned in the complaint.
Earlier, another attorney representing the first whistle-blower in the case, Andrew P. Bakaj, had confirmed that there were ‘multiple’ whistle-blowers. Bakaj tweeted, “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. No further comment at this time.”
Zaid later tweeted, "I can confirm the report of a second #whistleblower being represented by our legal team. They also made a protected disclosure under the law and cannot be retaliated against. This WBer has first hand knowledge."
Zaid told ABC News that the second whistle-blower had relayed his information to the Intelligence Community Inspector General, Michael Atkinson. Under US law, this person is to therefore be considered a whistle-blower, even though they had not yet filed an official complaint.
Atkinson has spoken with the second whistle-blower to corroborate the claims of the first.
The original complaint alleged that Trump was “using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election” and that “this interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President’s main domestic political rivals.” Significant, it stated that “Over the past four months, more than half a dozen U.S. officials have informed me of various facts related to this effort.”
The original complainant stated that they were “not a direct witness to most of the events described”, making the claimed ‘first-hand knowledge’ of the second whistle-blower all the more significant to the case.
What is the Trump-Ukraine scandal about?
The case revolves around a July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, where the US President urged Zelensky to investigate allegations that in 2014 Joe Biden, then Vice-President and now a Democratic front-runner for his party’s candidacy, used state-pressure to benefit the business dealings of his son, Hunter. Trump alleged that Biden used the threat of withdrawing a $1 billion US loan to force Ukrainian authorities to fire a prosecutor who, at the time, was investigating a company that Hunter once worked in.
That Trump had directly asked Zelensky to investigate this was an explosive, but initially-unproven allegation. But, the White House then released a non-verbatim summary of the phone call, which confirmed that Trump had indeed sought to make Zelensky investigate Biden.
The dangerous allegation is that Trump tied US security aid to Ukraine with the assurance that Zelensky would investigate the Bidens. Leaked messages from senior US diplomats indicate that Trump was holding back security assistance to Ukraine "for help with a political campaign".
Trump’s defence has been that, as President, it is his obligation to investigate corruption. He followed up by publicly urging Ukraine and China to investigate the Bidens. But, his critics say he has committed an impeachable offence by directly requesting foreign leaders to interfere in a domestic election. The scandal prompted US House of Congress Speaker Nancy Pelosi to formally initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump.
