Trump slams ‘partisan’ whistleblower

‘Serious’ complaint alleges improper deal with foreign leader

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump irritably defended himself Friday against an intelligence whistleblower’s potentially explosive complaint, including an allegation of wrongdoing in a reported private conversation Mr. Trump had with a foreign leader.

The complaint, which the administration has refused to let Congress see, remains shrouded in mystery but is “serious” and “urgent,” the government’s intelligence watchdog said. Mr. Trump dismissed the matter, insisting he did nothing wrong.

He declared Friday that the complaint was made by a “partisan whistleblower,” though he later said he did not know the person’s identity. He chided reporters for asking about it and said it was “just another political hack job.”

“I have conversations with many leaders. It’s always appropriate. Always appropriate,” Mr. Trump said.

Some of the whistleblower’s allegations appear to center on Ukraine, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Mr. Trump was asked if he knew if the complaint centered on a July 25 phone call with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The president responded “I really don’t know” but continued to insist any phone call he made with a head of state was “perfectly fine and respectful.”

The standoff raises fresh questions about the extent to which Mr. Trump’s appointees are protecting the president from oversight and, specifically, whether his new acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, is working with the Justice Department to shield the president from the reach of Congress.

It also plunged the Trump administration into a showdown with Congress over access to the whistleblower’s Aug. 12 complaint as lawmakers press their oversight of the president.

The administration has kept Congress from even learning what exactly the whistleblower is alleging.

The inspector general appeared before the House intelligence committee behind closed doors Thursday but declined, under administration orders, to reveal to members the substance of the complaint.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House committee, said Mr. Trump’s attack was “disturbing.”

Democrats are looking into whether Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, went to Ukraine to pressure the government to aid the president’s re-election effort by investigating the activities of potential rival Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, who worked for a Ukrainian gas company.

Mr. Trump was asked Friday if he brought up Mr. Biden with Mr. Zelenskiy, and he answered, “It doesn’t matter what I discussed.”

During a rambling interview Thursday on CNN, Mr. Giuliani was asked whether he had asked Ukraine to look into Mr. Biden. Mr. Giuliani initially said, “No, actually I didn’t,” but seconds later he said, “Of course I did.”