Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats, in a letter to Chairman Lindsey Graham, said Monday they want him to call in Attorney General William Barr and other senior Trump administration officials to testify about his actions where Ukraine is concerned.
The 10 panel Democrats say their committee has an "important leadership role to play" in investigating the whistleblower complaint about the July 25 phone call during which President Donald Trump encouraged Ukraine's president to help investigate 2020 Democratic candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, reports The Hill.
In their letter, they noted Trump mentioned Barr in his conversation with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, meaning the committee should look into Barr's involvement with both Ukraine and "matters related to the whistleblower's complaint."
Democrats also want to call in Assistant Attorneys General Brian Benczkowski, Steven Engel, and John Demers to testify.
According to a senior Justice official, Benczkowski made the decision about whether to open a campaign finance investigation into the Trump/Zelenskiy call, reports indicate, while Demers became aware of the call Aug. 14 and Engel was responsible for deciding if the whistleblower complaint was an urgent concern.
The Democrats also want to call in White House counsel Pat Cipollone to testify about the use of non-disclosure agreements and to hear testimony from Inspectors General Michael Atkinson and Michael Horowitz, the top watchdogs for the intelligence community and the Justice Department.
"This committee should not sit idly by as the president threatens potential witnesses, whose testimony may be crucial to congressional investigations into credible allegations against him," the letter said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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