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Washington (CNN) - US President Donald Trump intensified his criticism of the anonymous informant on Sunday at the center of the growing controversy over Ukraine after House Democrats began a political trial investigation against him, and said he deserves to know his accuser.
"Like all Americans, I deserve to meet my accuser, especially when this accuser, the so-called 'informant', represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way," Trump tweeted before attacking the president of the Commission. of Intelligence of the House of Representatives, Adam Schiff, who confirmed Sunday morning that there is a tentative agreement for the informant to testify before his committee.
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“Their lies were made perhaps in the most brazen and sinister way ever seen in the great Chamber. He wrote and read terrible things, then said it was from the mouth of the president of the United States. I want Schiff to be interrogated at the highest level for Fraud and Betrayal, ”Trump said.
The informant's lawyers sent a letter to the interim Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire, on Saturday, in which “serious” security concerns are presented to his client while Trump continues to criticize the individual.
"The purpose of this letter is to formally notify you of the serious concerns we have regarding our client's personal safety," the letter says, adding that Trump's recent comments are a "major" concern.
"The events of the past week have raised our concern that our client's identity will be publicly disclosed and that, as a result, our client will be endangered."
The letter also thanks the Maguire office for "support so far to activate the appropriate resources to ensure their safety." While the informant's lawyers did not give details on what those remedies are, they strongly denied that their client is under federal protection, as reported on Sunday by "60 Minutes" of CBS.
Zaid said in a statement given to CNN: "60 Minutes completely misunderstood the content of our letter." He did not comment on Trump's Sunday tweets. The television program tweeted Sunday night that "60 Minutes defends its sources and reports on the complainant."
Trump's tweets arrive days after the publication of the informant's complaint alleging that Trump abused his official powers "to request interference" from Ukraine in the next 2020 elections and that the White House took steps to cover it up. Trump has denied acting badly. An approximate transcript published by the White House shows that Trump repeatedly pressured President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, his potential political rival for the 2020 elections, and his son, Hunter Biden.
There is no evidence of irregularities by Joe or Hunter Biden.
Even before the reporter's complaint was made available to lawmakers, House of Representatives President Nancy Pelosi declared that Trump had betrayed his oath and announced last week that he would open a formal investigation of political trial against the president. .
On Sunday, Trump also echoed his previous attacks on the informant and promised "Great Consequences" to anyone who has helped provide information to the person.
"I want to meet not only my accuser, who presented SECOND AND THIRD HAND INFORMATION, but also the person who illegally gave this information, which was largely incorrect, to the 'informant,'" he said. “Was this person SPYING the president of the United States? Great consequences! ”
Trump said last week that who provided the complainant with information about his call with Zelensky is "close to being a spy," and said that in the old days spies were treated differently. The comment led three presidents of the House of Representatives, including Schiff, to ask the president to stop attacking the complainant.
“Today’s comments by the president constitute a reprehensible intimidation of witnesses and an attempt to obstruct the political trial investigation of Congress. We condemn the president's attacks and invite our Republican counterparts to do the same because Congress must do everything possible to protect this and all informants, ”they said. "The threats of violence of the leader of our country have a chilling effect on the whole process of reporting the informant, with serious consequences for our democracy and national security."
Pamela Brown, Greg Clary, Zachary Cohen, Jake Tapper and Jim Acosta of CNN contributed to this report.
Political judgment