Key Takeaways From the Whistle-Blower Complaint on Trump

(Bloomberg) -- A whistle-blower complaint released Thursday provides new details on the circumstances that provoked the unnamed intelligence official to raise alarm about President Donald Trump’s interaction with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The document, along with a newly released report from the inspector general of the intelligence community, also provides lawmakers in the House who are considering impeachment new material that could provide a roadmap for their investigation.

Here are the key takeaways:

Watchdog said Trump potentially violated laws

The inspector general for the intelligence community, Michael Atkinson, said in his letter to that the whistle-blower’s complaint “appears credible” and he cited multiple laws the president might have violated.

Atkinson cited U.S. laws and regulations that bar soliciting, accepting, or receiving a contribution or donation from a foreign national, directly or indirectly, to aid in an election.

Atkinson said that in his judgment, a senior official seeking foreign assistance to influence a federal election would constitute a serious or flagrant abuse under a separate section of the law and create serious national security risks.

A Justice Department review of Trump’s conduct found no criminal behavior or violation of election law.

Officials worried Trump sought foreign help to win election

More than half a dozen U.S. officials, including multiple officials in Trump’s White House, gave the whistle-blower information that Trump “is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election,” according to the complaint.

The whistle-blower said the interference included “pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the president’s main domestic political rivals” -- former Vice President Joe Biden.

Zelenskiy led to believe he needed to ‘play ball’

Multiple U.S. officials told the whistle-blower in May that Ukraine’s leadership was “led to believe” that a meeting or phone call between Trump and Zelenskiy would only happen if Zelenskiy “showed willingness to ‘play ball’ on the issues that had been publicly aired” by the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and a Ukraine prosecutor, according to the complaint.

Those issues included allegations that: Ukraine had interfered with the 2016 election in collaboration with the Democratic National Committee; and that Biden as vice president pressured Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor to quash a purported criminal probe into an energy company on which his son Hunter Biden sat.

Hunter Biden was hired in 2014 to sit on the board of Burisma Holdings, one of Ukraine’s biggest natural-gas companies. Trump and Giuliani have alleged that Biden pressured Ukraine’s then government to fire the country’s chief prosecutor in 2016 to prevent an investigation of Burisma as a favor to his son. Biden did push hard for the prosecutor’s removal, in line with U.S. policy, but by then the Burisma probe was no longer being pursued. Ukrainian officials told Bloomberg News in May 2019 that they had uncovered no evidence of wrongdoing by Hunter Biden.

Giuliani a ‘central figure’ in push for Ukraine probe

The whistle-blower described Giuliani, Trump’s person lawyer, as a “central figure” in the effort to pressure a foreign country to investigate Biden, noting that multiple U.S. officials said Giuliani traveled to Madrid in early August to meet with one of Zelenskiy’s advisers, Andriy Yermak.

U.S. officials characterized the meeting as a follow-up to Trump’s call with Zelenskiy, according to the complaint.

Attorney General Barr ‘appears to be involved’

Attorney General William Barr “appears to be involved” in the effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate one of the president’s rivals, the whistle-blower wrote, noting that Trump named Barr and Giuliani as his personal envoys during the phone call with Zelenskiy multiple times.

Although Trump told Zelenskiy he’d have Barr call him on the investigations he wanted Ukraine to conduct, Barr hasn’t recused himself from the matter, a Justice Department official has said. The department has said Barr never discussed the matter with Trump or Giuliani and hasn’t been in contact with Ukraine.

Complaint said White House ordered document ‘lock down’

The whistle-blower said that senior White House officials used unusual procedures when handling the records of Trump’s July phone call with Zelenskiy.

“I learned from multiple U.S. officials that senior White House officials had intervened to ‘lock down’ all the records of the phone call, especially the word-for-word transcript of the call that was produced -- as is customary -- by the White House Situation Room,” the whistle-blower said in a letter addressed to the chairmen of the House and Senate Intelligence committees.

“White House officials told me that they were ‘directed’ by White House lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which the transcripts are typically stored,’ the whistle-blower wrote.

White House staff unaware of rationale for aid cut

The order to suspend all U.S. military aid to Ukraine came in the weeks before the call with Zelenskiy, directly from Trump, who held discussions with White House Office of Management and Budget officials.

Those officials, however, “were unaware of a policy rationale,” according to the complaint.

The whistle-blower said an unnamed OMB official informed government agencies on July 18 that Trump had “earlier that month” issued instructions to suspend all U.S. security assistance to Ukraine.

White House officials were ‘disturbed’ by call

The whistle-blower learned of the call from White House officials who were “deeply disturbed” by what transpired.

“They told me that there was already a ‘discussion ongoing’ with White House lawyers about how to treat the call because of the likelihood, in the officials retelling, that they had witnessed the president abuse his office for personal gain,” according to the complaint.

--With assistance from Chris Strohm.

To contact the reporter on this story: Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum

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