Second whistle blows

Another insider offers info on Trump

A SECOND whistleblower has come forward with information about US President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, adding to the impeachment peril engulfing the White House.

Lawyer Mark Zaid, who represents both whistleblowers, said the second person had spoken to the intelligence community’s internal watchdog and could corroborate information in the original whistleblower complaint.

That document alleged Mr Trump pushed Ukraine’s President to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s family, prompting a White House cover-up.

Crucially, the new whistleblower works in the intelligence field and has “first-hand knowledge” of key events, Mr Zaid said.

The emergence of the second whistleblower threatened to undermine arguments from Mr Trump and his allies to discredit the original complaint.

They have called it politically motivated, claimed it was filed improperly and dismissed it as unreliable because it was based on second-hand or third-hand information.

A rough transcript of Mr Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, released by the White House, has already corroborated the complaint’s central claim that Mr Trump sought to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. The push came even though there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the former vice-president or his son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.

Text messages from State Department officials revealed other details, including that Ukraine was promised a visit with Mr Trump if it would agree to investigate the 2016 election and Ukrainian gas company Burisma – the outline of a potential quid pro quo.

Republican Jim Himes, a member of the House intelligence committee, said word of a second whistleblower indicated a bigger shift inside the Government.

“The President’s real problem is that his behaviour has finally gotten to a place where people are saying ‘enough’,” Mr Himes said.

Democrats have zeroed in on the State Department in the opening phase of their impeachment investigation.