Whistleblower Who Accused Trump Of Abuse Of Power Over Ukraine Call Revealed To Be CIA Officer

A whistleblower whose complaint accuses US President Donald Trump of trying to induce the Ukrainian government to take actions against former Vice President Joe Biden, is a CIA officer, media reports said on Friday (27 September)

The unnamed Central Intelligence Officer once worked at the White House, the BBC quoted several US media outlets as saying.

A lawyer for the whistleblower warned that trying to identify the officer could place them "in harm's way".

This development comes after the complaint, which refers to a controversial phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on 25 July, where the American leader pushes his counterpart to investigate corruption claims involving Joe Biden's son, Hunter, was released by the US House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Thursday.

"In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple US government officials that the President of the US is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 US election," the whistleblower wrote in the complaint dated 12 August.

"This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President's main domestic political rivals," he said, describing Trump's personal lawyer, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, as "a central figure in this effort", Efe news reported.

The whistleblower added that senior White House officials tried to "lock down" all details of the phone call.

He said that details of the call were stored in a "stand-alone computer system reserved for codeword-level intelligence information, such as covert action".

Democrats led by House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi initiated an official impeachment inquiry against the president on the basis of the anonymous complaint of the whistle blower.

(With inputs from IANS)