A whistleblower's complaint claims that President Donald Trump tried to use "the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election."
The complaint, released by the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, is the source document that ultimately led House Democrats to launch a formal impeachment inquiry into the president Sept. 24.
Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July to "look into" allegations involving former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, according to a memorandum of a phone call between the two leaders released by the White House on Sept. 25.
In announcing the impeachment inquiry, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the president's actions "revealed the dishonorable fact of the president's betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections."
The complaint also alleged that U.S. Attorney General William Barr seemed to be involved in the effort, along with the president's personal lawyer and former New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani.
The complaint claimed that White House officials were "directed" by lawyers to move the electronic transcript of the phone call to an electronic system used to store classified information "of an especially sensitive nature."
Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire's testimony before the House Intelligence Committee regarding the whistleblower complaint is underway.
