WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday the Senate Intelligence Committee will look into a whistleblower’s complaint that reportedly alleges President Donald Trump pressured the Ukrainian leader to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a possible Trump opponent in the 2020 presidential race.

But only a handful of Republicans demanded that the Trump administration turn over the whistleblower’s complaint to the panel.

Reports that Trump spoke to a foreign leader about his political rival — and has refused to hand over a whistleblower’s complaint about it — have energized Democrats’ impeachment investigation and put congressional Republicans in the politically perilous position of choosing whether to defend the president.

McConnell said Monday that the Senate would move forward on a bipartisan basis, complaining that the Democratic-led House had “politicized” the issue.

Trump told U.S. budget officials to hold back military aid from Ukraine days before phone call with its president, officials say https://t.co/MAVDYB2zro

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 24, 2019

Later this week, the Senate Intelligence Committee will attempt to privately interview the inspector general of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which received the complaint. The IG had determined that that the complaint was serious and urgent enough that — by law — it should be shared with congressional intelligence committees. Of particular interest is a transcript of a July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the acting director of the national intelligence office has refused to turn over the information.

JUST IN: 7 freshman Democrats write in a WashPost op-ed that if allegations that President Trump tried to persuade a foreign country to investigate a political opponent are proven to be true, it would "represent an impeachable offense"https://t.co/3d7Uk0vmKA

— Axios (@axios) September 24, 2019

Only a handful of Republicans criticized that decision and publicly called for the Trump administration to hand over the contents of the whistleblower complaint, or expressed concern about the seriousness of the allegations. Many others GOP lawmakers refused to weigh in, saying they didn’t know the full story.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, called it “a very serious matter” and said determining what Trump and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said to Ukrainian officials “is critical.”

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she wanted to see the whistleblower’s complaint. “The law is clear that if the inspector general of the intelligence community received a whistleblower complaint that the IG deems is urgent, that that is to be reported to the leaders of the intelligence committee,” Collins said.

A small number of Senate Republicans expressed concern about the content of the allegations. Asked if the president should be talking about their political opponents with foreign leaders, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said, “Probably not.”

Trump’s pushback at @MittRomney for being first Senate R to push him on Ukraine. And a message to other R senators. https://t.co/cnmQCDzXun

— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) September 24, 2019

Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and a rare Republican who has openly criticized Trump, said lawmakers should see the whistleblower complaint. The former CIA agent announced last month that he would not seek reelection.

“The most important concern for me is that members of the intelligence community, and connected to the intelligence community, that they have a protected way to share information with the intelligence committees,” Hurd said.

In a letter Monday to McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., warned that Republicans risked appearing “silence and submissive” if they failed to look into the matter, noting that the complaint “has been labeled ‘urgent’ and ‘credible’ not by Democrats, but by a senior-level Trump appointee.”

Trump has claimed that the whistleblower is partisan, tweeting Monday that the person — who has not been publicly identified — “doesn’t know the correct facts. Is he on our country’s side. Where does he come from.” But on Sunday, the president acknowledged that he brought up Biden during his conversation with Zelensky, insisting there was nothing inappropriate about it.

"The Founding Fathers … never foresaw anyone like Trump. How could they?" asks Col. Ralph Peters as Democratic lawmakers weigh impeachment over questions about Pres. Trump's conversation with Ukraine’s president. https://t.co/V4ym0LmPN9 pic.twitter.com/ocaze2eQBP

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) September 24, 2019

Some Republicans said Monday they were skeptical of the whistleblower’s complaint, echoing Trump’s criticism. “Is it a whistleblower or leaker?” asked Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “I don’t know which. I just don’t think we know enough information.”

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said he opposes releasing a transcript of the call because the president should be able to have private conversations with foreign leaders. “It’s a very dangerous precedent, and I think it’s going to really harm any president, whether it’s this president or future presidents, ability to talk to world leaders candidly,” Johnson said.

House Democratic leaders say that if Trump attempted to prod a foreign government to investigate his political rival and then tried to block Congress from learning about his actions, it will push their impeachment inquiries into a new phase. The House Intelligence Committee will attempt to question acting DNI head Joseph Maguire on Thursday.

"This White House has not been... organized enough to send out talkers or talking points to the administration officials going out on the Sunday shows in a long time, but it certainly sounded like they were reading from a similar script..." - @anniekarni w/ @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/RE1kqCge5T

— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) September 23, 2019

Two additional Democrats on Monday announced their support for an impeachment investigation. One of them, Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., said the new allegations continue “a pattern of behavior that is corrupt at best, treasonous at worst, and puts our rule of law at risk.”

Three House committee chairmen on Monday demanded that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo turn over documents relating to the president and Giuliani’s alleged attempt to solicit the help of the Ukranians in the 2020 election. They warned that they would begin preparing subpoenas.

Among other things, Democrats want to know if the Trump administration delayed about $250 million in military aid to Ukraine at the same time it was pressuring the country to reopen investigations into Biden and his son, Hunter.

---

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)

---