Trump wants to meet whistle-blower at centre of Ukraine scandal
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Sunday said he wants to meet the anonymous whistle-blower at the centre of the scandal threatening his presidency.
In a series of evening tweets, he blasted Democratic lawmakers and the media as he railed against the impeachment inquiry launched last week.
That probe was triggered by the release of a rough transcript of a July phone call in which Mr Trump asked the leader of Ukraine to investigate Mr Joe Biden, a potential Democratic candidate in the 2020 US election.
He also enlisted his attorney general and personal lawyer to help in that effort.
The whistle-blower filed a complaint over the contents of the conversation in August, saying Mr Trump had tried to get a foreign power to interfere in a US election for his own gain.
"Like every American, I deserve to meet my accuser, especially when this accuser, the so-called 'whistle-blower' represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way," Mr Trump tweeted.
He said the de facto leader of the congressional inquiry, Mr Adam Schiff, lied to Congress last week about what Mr Trump said to the president of Ukraine and should be punished.
Mr Trump tweeted: "I want Schiff questioned at the highest level for fraud and treason."
Separately, Mr Trump's aides sought on Sunday to turn the tables on Democrats pushing for his impeachment, insisting he was the true "whistle-blower" in urging Ukraine to investigate the son of Mr Biden.
"The president of the United States is the whistle-blower," Trump adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News Sunday.
Mr Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani - his point man in the Ukraine scandal - led the charge along with Mr Miller in a series of combative Sunday talk show appearances.
Brandishing what he said were affidavits incriminating Mr Biden's son Hunter over his work at a Ukrainian company, Mr Giuliani said Mr Trump was duty bound to raise the issue with Kiev.
"If he hadn't asked them to investigate Biden, he would have violated the constitution," Mr Giuliani told ABC, saying "Donald Trump was framed by the Democrats". - AFP
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
