The White House has agreed to let an intelligence official testify in open session before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday about a whistleblower complaint against president Donald Trump.
The concession comes amid loud and intensifying calls from Democrats to impeach Trump. Democrats want Trump's head because he allegedly pressured Ukraine to investigate Hunter Biden, son of former vice president Joe Biden, in exchange for Trump approving military aid to Ukraine been withholding.
Hunter Biden briefly worked for a Ukrainian energy company but quit after his father, who was then U.S. vice president, led a multinational investigation into corruption in the former Ukraine government led by ex-president Petro Poroshenko.
Legal experts note it's unheard of for a sitting U.S. president to ask a foreign government to investigate a U.S. citizen, in this case Joe and Hunter Biden. Trump even sent his own personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to Ukraine to make his case.
Giuliani later admitted to media he visited Ukraine to get dirt on both Bidens.
Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire will testify in open session before the House Intelligence Committee about a whistleblower complaint the U.S. Intelligence Community's (USIC) inspector general labeled "credible and urgent" enough to bring to the attention of the House of Representatives.
Various U.S. media firms have reported that the complaint concerns Trump's communications with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Knowledgeable sources in the White House cited by media comfirm Trump wanted Zelensky to investigate Hunter Biden, allegedly on unspecified corruption charges.
Trump made this request "about eight times" in a phone call last July, according to the Wall Street Journal. House Democrats are also investigating if this pressure had something to do with Trump withholding $250 million in military aid from Ukraine.
The Trump administration approved the $250 million military aid package this month after months of delay. Democrat and GOP lawmakers are voicing loud concerns about why Trump delayed approving the military aid package.
The Trump administration is defending Trump's claim he did nothing illegal during his conversation with Zelensky. Mounting allegations about Trump's using military aid as leverage against Biden is leading more Democrats to call for Trump's impeachment.
"By failing to act, Congress is complicit in Trump's latest attempt to solicit foreign interference to aid him in US elections," tweeted Democrat presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). "Do your constitutional duty and impeach the president."
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) told CNN he's previously been hesitant to advocate impeaching Trump. This time, however, Schiff thinks it's important to make clear to the public impeachment is something Democrats pursue "reluctantly."
Schiff said if Trump did pressure Ukraine into investigating a political opponent, impeachment might be appropriate.
"This would be, I think, the most profound violation of the presidential oath of office certainly during this presidency, which says a lot, but perhaps during just about any presidency," according to Schiff.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) still isn't calling for impeachment, however. Pelosi issued a statement warning the Trump administration against withholding the full contents of the whistleblower complaint.
"If the Administration persists in blocking this whistleblower from disclosing to Congress a serious possible breach of constitutional duties by the President, they will be entering a grave new chapter of lawlessness which will take us into a whole new stage of investigation," wrote Pelosi.
