This archive report was first published on 30 September 2019.
September 30, 2019
US President Donald Trump has escalated his response to the Ukraine scandal, launching a series of tweets that target Democratic lawmakers and the media.
The impeachment inquiry, launched last week, was triggered by a July phone call in which Trump asked the Ukrainian president to investigate Joe Biden, a potential Democratic candidate in the 2020 US election.
Trump enlisted the help of his attorney general and personal lawyer in the effort to discredit the whistleblower, who filed a complaint in August alleging that Trump had tried to get a foreign power to interfere in a US election for his own gain.
"Like every American, I deserve to meet my accuser, especially when this accuser, the so-called 'Whistleblower,' represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way," Trump tweeted.
He also accused Adam Schiff, the de facto leader of the congressional inquiry, of lying to Congress and called for him to be questioned for fraud and treason.
