The White House sought to "lock down" all records of a call between Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president where he urged an investigation into political rival Joe Biden, a whistleblower has claimed. White House lawyers “directed” officials to remove an electronic transcript of the July 25 call from a system where such notes are usually stored, according to a complaint by the unnamed whistleblower. Instead the transcript was kept on separate electronic system usually used for storing classified information despite it not containing any information sensitive to national security, it is claimed. During the call, a transcript of which was made public on Wednesday after the Democrats launched impeachment proceedings, Mr Trump lobbied for an investigation into Mr Biden, one of his main political rivals for the 2020 election. The claim – that the White House essentially sought to make notes of that call less accessible – is the most explosive revelation in the whistleblower complaint which was finally made public on Thursday. The acting director of national intelligence explains why he withheld the complaint Credit: AFP For weeks the US intelligence community has been refusing to hand over the complaint to Congress, helping fuel speculation in Washington and drive what has become known as the Ukraine whistleblower scandal. The name or exact position of the whistleblower is not known. The complaint is nine pages long and contains some redactions. Mr Trump has denied any wrongdoing. The complaint begins: “In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple US Government officials that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 US election. “This interference includes, among other things, pressurising a foreign country to investigate one of the President’s main domestic political rivals. “The President’s personal lawyer, Mr Rudolph Giuliani, is a central figure in this effort. Attorney General [William] Barr appears to be involved as well.” At the heart of the complaint is the July 25 phone call between Mr Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, the actor turned politician who became Ukraine’s president in May. We now know from a transcript released Wednesday that Mr Trump asked Mr Zelensky to “look into” Mr Biden and his son Hunter Biden’s activities in Ukraine, which the US president called “horrible”. The Bidens have always denied any wrongdoing. Critics have said that action amounts to Mr Trump using his position of office to undermine a political rival, given Mr Biden is the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination for the 2020 election. Mr Trump has denied any “pressure” was applied, saying the call was “friendly”. The complaint lays out allegations about how White House officials behaved after the call. It says that according to “multiple White House officials” a transcript of the call was placed on a computer system that manages the National Security Council Directorate for Intelligence Programs. Process of impeachment That is a standalone computer system “reserved for codeword-level intelligence information” such as covert action, according to the complaint. The whistleblower claims that some White House officials voiced concern that this would “be an abuse of the system” because the information was politically sensitive rather than being an issue of national security. The complaint also claims some White House officials said this “was not the first time” that had happened during the Trump administration. Elsewhere in the complaint, the whistleblower lays out a detailed series of claims about the involvement of Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump’s personal attorney. Specifically it details meetings he had with advisers to the Ukrainian president, some of which have been publicly acknowledged, and others who would be involved in any investigations. There were other claims. US officials believed the new Ukrainian leadership was led to believe a meeting or call between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky would only happen if they “play ball”, according to the complaint. The whistleblower also claims that in July Mr Trump ordered the suspension of all US security assistance to Ukraine. However there was no speculation in the complaint about why the decision was taken. Critics have claimed that Mr Trump held back the military aid to encourage the Ukrainian leader to agree to investigate the Bidens. Mr Trump and his Republican allies have denied this, saying there is no evidence of a “quid pro quo”. Earlier in the week, Mr Trump questioned the motives of the whistleblower, suggesting they are acting out of partisanship. He said they got their information second hand. Mr Trump has also said that he does not know the whistleblower's identity. In the complaint the whistleblower states that they were “not a direct witness to most of the events described”, but adds that they believe the accounts of events described were “credible”. The whistleblower also says that “more than half a dozen US officials” passed on information over a period of four months which underpinned the complaint. On Thursday night The New York Times reported that the whistleblower is a male CIA officer who was once detailed to work at the White House, referencing three people familiar with his identity. The report could not be independently verified by this newspaper. Read the redacted version of the whistleblower complaint here:
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