A second whistleblower has come forward with information about the Trump-Zelensky phone call and has already talked to Michael Atkinson, the inspector general of the intelligence community, ABC News reported on Sunday, citing lawyer Mark Zaid.
Zaid, who represents the first whistleblower, said that the second official has "first-hand knowledge" of the negotiations between Washington and Kiev. He also confirmed that his legal team would be representing both officials from now on.
According to the first complaint, during the conversation between Trump and Zelensky in July, the US president pressured his Ukrainian counterpart to restart an investigation into former US Vice President and 2020 Democratic contender Joe Biden as well as his son Hunter.
The ex-vice-president publicly admitted back in 2016 that he had threatened Ukrainian authorities with suspending $1 billion in US loan guarantees if Kiev did not fire the prosecutor in charge of the case against the company Burisma, where his son was serving as a board member.
Trump called the allegations part of a "witch hunt" against him, while Zelensky stressed that no one had pressured him into launching the probe into the case. The White House has even released a transcript of the call and stated that the whistleblower's statements are inaccurate, accusing him of being a spy.
House Democrats have claimed, however, that Trump committed "high crimes and misdemeanours", but Republicans have rejected the allegations, noting that the case is just another attempt to win votes in the upcoming 2020 presidential elections.
