Trump whistleblower complaint: Kurt Volker, Trump's envoy to Ukraine, resigns

Here are the latest updates:

Update 6:35 p.m. EDT Sept. 27: Trump met Friday with Wayne LaPierre, president of the National Rifle Association, and discussed gun legislation and whether the gun rights group could provide support to the president during his 2020 reelection campaign as he faces impeachment, The New York Times reported.

The NRA gave more than $30 million to Trump during his 2016 election, The Times reported.

Update 5:40 p.m. EDT Sept. 27: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been subpoenaed by three House committees for documents related to Ukraine. 
The committees on foreign affairs, intelligence and oversight and reform sent a letter to Pompeo Friday afternoon asking for the documents by Oct. 4.

Update 1:45 p.m. EDT Sept. 27: House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff is considering holding a hearing next Friday on the whistleblower complaint filed last month against President Donald Trump, according to Politico.

It was not immediately clear whether the meeting would be public. Lawmakers told Politico they were awaiting word from Schiff on details of the meeting.

"The Intel committee is going to be active," House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries told Politico. "The investigation is ongoing. We're going to approach it with the seriousness and solemnity that it deserves."

Update 12:05 p.m. EDT Sept. 27: The House Intelligence Committee expects to hold hearings as soon as next week as Democrats move forward with an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff told CNN on Friday.

"I expect subpoenas," Schiff told CNN, adding that he expects it will be a "busy couple (of) weeks."

At least two Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, Reps. Eric Swalwell and Jackie Speier, said Friday that they've canceled events in their home districts in favor of preparing for the expected hearings.

Update 10:40 a.m. EDT Sept. 27: Members of the House Intelligence Committee braced Friday for the possibility of returning to Washington during the upcoming two-week recess amid the ongoing impeachment probe of President Donald Trump, CNN reported.

Citing unidentified sources, the news network reported Democrats aimed to complete their impeachment inquiry by fall.

Earlier Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to specify a timeline for the probe, saying only that Democrats would "move with purpose, and expeditiously, but not hastily," The Guardian reported.

Update 9:45 a.m. EDT Sept. 27: Bloomberg News has obtained video of President Donald Trump telling a private gathering of U.S. diplomats that the source who gave information to the whistleblower was "close to a spy."

"You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart, right? With spies and treason, right?" Trump can be heard saying in the clip, which Bloomberg reported was recorded Thursday while the president addressed the United States Mission to the United Nations. "We used to handle it a little differently than we do now."

The comments sparked condemnation from Democrats, who have accused Trump of witness intimidation in their ongoing impeachment probe.  Reps. Eliot Engel, Adam Schiff and Elijah Cummings suggested Thursday in a statement that Trump's efforts to interfere with the potential witness could be unlawful.

Update 9 a.m. EDT Sept. 27: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN and MSNBC on Friday morning that U.S. Attorney General William Barr has "gone rogue"

In a whistleblower complaint filed last month against President Donald Trump, an unidentified U.S. intelligence official implicated Barr in Trump's alleged efforts to "solicit (election) interference from a foreign country."

"I do think the attorney general has gone rogue. He has for a long time now," Pelosi told CNN. "And since he was mentioned in all of this, it's curious that he would be making decisions about how the complaint would be handled."

Earlier Friday, Pelosi told MSNBC that Barr's handling of the complaint "just makes matters worse."

"I think where they are going is the coverup of the coverup," she said.

Update 7:55 a.m. EDT Sept. 27: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Friday, speaking out about the impeachment inquiry lawmakers have issued against President Donald Trump.

"This is a very sad time for our country," Pelosi said in the exclusive interview.

But she called the move "protecting the Constitution of the United States" after she accused Trump's administration of "jeopardizing national security" and "jeopardizing the integrity of our elections."

Update 7:02 a.m. EDT Sept. 27: Almost 300 former United States national security and foreign policy officials have signed a statement calling President Donald Trump's call with the president of the Ukraine a "Profound national security concern" and are backing up the impeachment inquiry called by Congress to get to the bottom of the allegations, The Washington Post reported.

The statement released Friday reads in part, "To be clear, we do not wish to prejudge the totality of the facts of Congress' deliberative process. At the same time, there is no escaping that what we already know is serious enough to merit impeachment proceedings."

National Security Action statement on Trump Whistleblower Complaint by National Content Desk on Scribd

Those who signed the statement issued by the group National Security Action are former senior officials from both Democratic and Republican administrations. But a majority of members of the organization came from President Barack Obama's administration, the Washington Post reported.

The list of signers also includes members of President George H.W. Bush's administration including William Burns who served as Bush's assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, undersecretary for policy and ambassador to Russia. He was also a deputy secretary for the Obama administration.

Meanwhile, House Democrats are warning the president to stop "reprehensible witness intimidation" against the whistleblower, CNN reported.

In a joint statement released Thursday evening, the chairmen of the Foreign Affairs Committee, House Intelligence Committee and Oversight Committee said, "The President's comments today constitute reprehensible witness intimidation and an attempt to obstruct Congress' impeachment inquiry. We condemn the President's attacks, and we invite our Republican counterparts to do the same because Congress must do all it can to protect this whistleblower, and all whistleblowers."

The statement, according to CNN, also said, "Threats of violence from the leader of our country have a chilling effect on the entire whistleblower process, with grave consequences for our democracy and national security."

Trump continued his attacks on the reporting of the call between himself and the Ukranian president, saying the call "could not have been better or more honorable" in a series of morning Tweets.

Update 7:20 p.m. EDT Sept. 26: President Donald Trump continued to defend himself against allegations of wrongdoing via Twitter Thursday evening.

"The President of Ukraine said that he was NOT pressured by me to do anything wrong," he tweeted. "Can't have better testimony than that! As V.P., Biden had his son, on the other hand, take out millions of dollars by strong arming the Ukrainian President. Also looted millions from China. Bad!"

Update 3:55 p.m. EDT Sept. 26: The Los Angeles Times released an audio recording Thursday afternoon of President Donald Trump calling the source of a whistleblower who last month filed a complaint against him "almost a spy."

The New York Times reported earlier Thursday that Trump made the comments while speaking with staff members from the United States Mission to the United Nations.

Update 2:55 p.m. EDT Sept. 26: Angry over the recently released whistleblower complaint filed against President Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal attorney vented to a reporter for The Atlantic on Thursday.

"It's impossible that the whistleblower is a hero and I'm not. And I will be the hero! These morons -- when this is over, I will be the hero," he told The Atlantic's Elaina Plott. "I'm not acting as a lawyer. I'm acting as someone who has devoted most of his life to straightening out government. ... Anything I did should be praised."

In a whistleblower complaint filed last month against Trump, an unidentified U.S. intelligence official said Giuliani was "a central figure" in Trump's efforts to "solicit (election) interference from a foreign country." The official said U.S. Attorney General William Barr "appears to be involved as well."

Trump has dismissed the complaint as "fake news."

Update 2 p.m. EDT Sept. 26: The whistleblower who filed a complaint against President Donald Trump last month after the president asked the Ukrainian leader to investigate one of his political rivals is a CIA officer, according to a report from The New York Times.

The man was previously detailed to work at the White House, though he has since returned to the CIA, the Times reported, citing three unidentified sources with knowledge of the person's identity.

Lawyers for the whistleblower declined to say whether he worked for the CIA and warned that "publishing information about him was dangerous," according to the Times.

Update 1:35 p.m. EDT Sept. 26: President Donald Trump said Thursday that whoever provided information to the whistleblower who filed a complaint last month against him is "close to a spy," according to The New York Times.

Trump made the comments while speaking Thursday morning with stunned staff members from the United States Mission to the United Nations, the Times reported.

"I want to know who's the person who gave the whistleblower the information because that's close to a spy," Trump said, according to the Times. "You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart with spies and treason, right? We used to handle it a little differently than we do now."

Trump spoke as Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire testified before the House Intelligence Committee about his handling of the complaint.

Update 12:55 p.m. EDT Sept. 26: President Donald Trump dismissed the whistleblower complaint filed against him as "Another Fake News Story" Thursday after Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire testified Thursday before the House Intelligence Committee.

Maguire was asked to testify about his handling of a complaint filed last month against Trump following a July 25 call the president had with the Ukrainian president. White House officials released a rough transcript of the call Wednesday.

"See what was said on the very nice, no pressure, call," Trump wrote. "Another Witch Hunt!"

In a subsequent tweet, the president attacked House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., as having "zero credibility." Schiff brushed off the criticism while speaking with reporters, saying he's "always flattered when I'm attacked by someone of the president's character."

Schiff said Thursday that his panel is working to secure testimony from the whistleblower, who has been identified only as a U.S. intelligence official.

"We're obviously going to be bringing the whistleblower in," Schiff said.

Update 12:35 p.m. EDT Sept. 26: Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire testified Thursday before the House Intelligence Committee after the panel publicly released a redacted version of a whistleblower complaint filed last month against President Donald Trump.

Maguire told lawmakers the complaint wasn't immediately shared with Congress because it centered on a conversation between the president and a foreign leader, a conversation that is "typically subject to executive privilege."

He said he didn't know the identity of the whistleblower, but that he or she "acted in good faith."

"I want to stress I believe the whistle-blower and the inspector general have acted in good faith throughout," he said. "I have every reason to believe that they have done everything by the book and followed the law."

The whistleblower complaint is at the center of an impeachment inquiry.

Update 12:10 p.m. EDT Sept. 26: A former top Ukrainian prosecutor told The Washington Post he did not believe Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, violated any of the country's laws after White House officials released a rough transcript of a July phone call in which President Donald Trump asked Ukraine's leader to investigate allegations of wrongdoing.

"From the perspective of Ukrainian legislation, he did not violate anything," former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko told the Post.

In a rough transcript of a July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the U.S. president brought up unsubstantiated allegations that as vice president, Joe Biden sought to interfere with a Ukrainian prosecutor's investigation of Hunter Biden. The vice president's son at the time served on the board of Burisma, Ukraine's largest private gas company, according to the Post.

The owner of Burisma was previously investigated for suspected abuse of power and unlawful enrichment, though the Post reported, "Hunter Biden was never accused of any wrongdoing in the investigation."

"Hunter Biden cannot be responsible for violations of the management of Burisma that took place two years before his arrival," Lutsenko told the Post.

Update 11:25 a.m. EDT Sept. 26: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the whistleblower complaint filed last month against President Donald Trump showed a "coverup" in the White House.

Pelosi spoke at a news conference Thursday as the House Intelligence Committee heard testimony from Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire.

"The complaint states that the White House tried to lock down all records of the call, especially the word for word transcript," she said.

"That gave the whistleblower reason to believe that they, the White House, understood the gravity of what transpired in that call. The complaint reports a quote, repeated abuse of an electronics record system designed to store classified, sensitive national security information which the White House used to hide information of a political nature."

"This is a coverup," she said. "This is a coverup."

Update 10:30 a.m. EDT Sept. 26: Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire on Thursday told the House Intelligence Committee he is working to allow the whistleblower to testify before Congress, though he noted he was unaware of the person's identity. The whistleblower has been identified in media reports only as a U.S. intelligence official.

Maguire declined to say whether he spoke to the president about the complaint, telling lawmakers his conversations with Trump are privileged.

"I will not divulge privileged conversations that I have as the director of national intelligence with the president," he said. "It would be inappropriate for me because it would destroy my relationship with the president in intelligence matters."

Update 10 a.m. EDT Sept. 26: Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire told the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday morning that he believes the whistleblower and the inspector general who handled the complaint "acted in good faith throughout."

"I have every reason to believe that they have done everything by the book and followed the law," Maguire said while testifying before the panel.

He told lawmakers that he didn't immediately share details of the complaint with the House Intelligence Committee because the conversation it centered on seemed to be one "typically subject to executive privilege."

"I want to make it clear that I have upheld my responsibility to follow the law every step of the way in the matter that is before us today," Maguire said.

Update 9:35 a.m. EDT Sept. 26: Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire is testifying Thursday before the House Intelligence Committee after the panel released a redacted version of a whistleblower complaint filed last month against President Donald Trump.

Update 9:25 a.m. EDT Sept. 26: House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the rough transcript released Wednesday of the July 25 call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky provided the "most graphic evidence yet that the President of the United States has betrayed his oath of office."

White House officials claimed the whistleblower's complaint about Trump's efforts to seek dirt from Ukraine on former Vice President Joe Biden "shows nothing improper."

An unidentified U.S. intelligence official said in the complaint that Ukrainian leadership was "led to believe" that a phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was conditioned on whether Zelensky "showed willingness to ‘play ball'" on issues raised by Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. The complaint also detailed concerns from U.S. officials about "Giuliani's circumvention of national security decisionmaking processes."

Update 9 a.m. EDT Sept. 26: An unidentified U.S. intelligence official raised concerns in a whistleblower complaint released publicly Thursday over President Donald Trump using his power to "solicit interference from a foreign country" in the upcoming presidential election.

"In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple U.S. 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 U.S. election," the unidentified official said. "The interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President's main domestic political rivals."

The official said Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was "a central figure in this effort" and that U.S. Attorney General William Barr "appears to be involved as well."

Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

Update 8:40 a.m. EDT Sept. 26: The House Intelligence Committee on Thursday morning released a redacted version of the whistleblower complaint filed last week against President Donald Trump.

"This complaint is a roadmap for our investigation, and provides significant information for the Committee to follow up on with other witnesses and documents," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a statement Thursday morning. "And it is corroborated by the call record released yesterday."