Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) demanded on Monday that Republicans investigate a whistleblower complaint believed to concern President Trump’s call to Ukraine’s leader, including holding a hearing and issuing a subpoena.
Schumer, in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), said Republicans should “fulfill your constitutional duty” in the wake of the whistleblower complaint, which has not been divulged to Congress.
{mosads}”In the face of this dire warning and the Trump Administration’s effort to cover it up, the Republican-led Senate has remained silent and submissive, shying away from this institution’s constitutional obligation to conduct oversight,” Schumer wrote.
“The Republican Senate’s ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ attitude toward such a serious national security concern is unacceptable and must change,” he added.
Schumer’s letter comes amid reports that both Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani have attempted to persuade Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden or his son.
Schumer, in his letter to McConnell, wants Senate Republicans to hold a hearing about the whistleblower complaint, including having acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testify before a Senate committee.
Schumer also wants Republicans to issue a subpoena to force the administration to hand over the whistleblower complaint, and for the Justice Department to provide copies of any legal guidance it’s given the administration on providing Congress with the whistleblower complaint.
“This is a whistleblower complaint that has been labeled ‘urgent’ and ‘credible’ not by Democrats, but by a senior-level Trump appointee. It is the Senate’s duty to take this national security matter seriously and to take action now,” Schumer added in his letter.
Members of the House Intelligence Committee received a briefing last week from the intelligence community’s inspector general but did not receive information about the complaint’s contents. Maguire has refused to provide the information to the committee or comply with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) request that he hand over the complaint.
Schumer also wants the White House to identify which official sought to delay $250 million in aid to Ukraine and for Trump to release the transcript of his call with Zelensky.
The White House has, so far, not released a transcript of the call. Trump suggested on Sunday that the topic of discussion during his call with Zelensky “was largely the fact that we don’t want our people like Vice President Biden and his son [contributing] to the corruption already in the Ukraine.”
Senate Republicans have for the most part remained silent about the whistleblower complaint and the ongoing battle between House Democrats and the White House for it to be shared with Congress.
But Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) urged Trump to release more details about his call with Zelensky.
“I would urge him to continue to be as transparent as possible and tell us as much as he can without compromising executive privilege so that we can understand what happened,” he said during a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt on Monday.
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