Congresswoman says whistleblower offers "road map" for Trump impeachment inquiry
Alabama Congresswoman Terri Sewell, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, said the whistleblower complaint at the center of an renewed impeachment push by her caucus will serve as a "road map" to guide Congress in its sweepings investigations into President Trump's actions as commander in chief.
"None of us come to Congress to try to impeach the president. I know the people elected me to go to Congress to lower prescription drug prices for them, to be sure that we have an equal level playing field when it comes to education," Sewell said on "Face the Nation" Sunday. "But I think that we find ourselves at a very sombering moment in American history."
The complaint referenced by Sewell, which was filed by a member of the intelligence community in early August and declassified last week, said the president pressured his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a political rival, and his son, Hunter, during a call in late July.
According to a summary of the call released by the White House, Mr. Trump on several occasions offered the U.S. government's help in any probe into Biden and his son, who used to sit on the board of a Ukrainian energy firm. Mr. Trump also urged Zelensky to work with his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and Attorney General William Barr on the matter.
Sewell said the actions detailed in the complaint crossed a "rubicon" for her.
"It gets to the very heart of our nation's democracy, the integrity of our elections," she said. "And if any district understands that it's my district, Alabama's Seventh Congressional District, which was the Civil Rights district where people died, fought, bled for the right to vote."