NEW ORLEANS — The battle over the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump continued Thursday with the acting national director of intelligence testifying before a Congressional committee.
The whistleblower complaint at the center of the controversy is now available for all to see. It's about nine pages and comes from a member of the intelligence community. What's in those nine pages is being picked apart, and rightly so. The allegations are against a sitting President.
They accuse President Trump of using the office to have the Ukrainian government investigate Joe Biden to influence next year's election. Are the allegations true? That's a question being answered in the most partisan way.
"It's hard to imagine a more serious set of allegations than those contained in the complaint," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-CA, House Intelligence Committee Chair
For most Democrats, the whistleblower complaint involves national security and the integrity of the American elections. For most republicans, the complaint is political fiction. Republican Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise tweeted today: "dems are literally making stuff up now because they have no legitimate reason to impeach @realdonaldtrump."
In a separate tweet, Scalise highlighted one part of the complaint in which the whistleblower stated, "I was not a direct witness of the events described." The whistleblower said he or she received information from quote "multiple U.S. government officials" that the President was trying to solicit interference in the election.
Is the complaint fact or a farce? That requires investigation. Here's the acting director of national intelligence describing the inspector general passing on the complaint to him.
"Because he found the allegations to be credible, I was required under the whistle-blower protection act to forward the complaint to our committees within seven days of receiving it," said Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence.
The inspector general found the allegations to be credible, something that's being debated. But Republicans and Democrats will likely agree that what's happening now is unprecedented.