The anonymous whistleblower who filed a complaint that led to the formal launch of an impeachment inquiry into US President Donald Trump has tentatively agreed to testify before Congress, under a precondition that lawyers will also be allowed to accompany them during the hearing, CNN reported Wednesday.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff reportedly wrote a letter to acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, urging him to provide security clearance “immediately,” calling the whistleblower’s request “reasonable.”
"This is a reasonable request that the Committee strongly supports and expects your office to fulfill immediately," Schiff wrote, according to CNN.
Testimony has not yet been scheduled and the identity of the whistleblower remains undisclosed. Their complaint has been declassified but is not yet available to the public.
The complaint deals in part with a phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. House Democrats assert that Trump pressed Zelensky to launch a probe into 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden’s involvement into the firing of Ukraine’s prosecutor general during the Poroshenko administration using military aid funding as leverage. This, in part, was used by the Dems to justify the impeachment inquiry announced Tuesday.
Trump denies that withholding funds had anything to do with his request to Zelensky, but admitted that it did take place around the time of the phone call.