Trump impeachment: FBI seeks to interview whistleblower who triggered investigation

The FBI is seeking an interview with a CIA whistleblower whose complaint led to an impeachment inquiry into whether US president Donald Trump abused his office in his dealings with the Ukrainian president, according to three people familiar with the matter.

A special agent with the bureau's Washington Field Office first contacted one of the whistleblower's attorneys last month, and the FBI and the legal team have traded messages since, said two of the individuals, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

No date for an interview has been set and it is not clear whether one will be, the people said.

Andrew Bakaj and Mark Zaid, the whistleblower's attorneys, declined to comment. Spokespeople for the Justice Department and FBI declined to comment.

The FBI is interested in the "substance" of the whistleblower's complaint, said one person familiar with the matter. The complaint centred on a 25 July phone call between Mr Trump and Ukraine president Volodomyr Zelensky and concerns that Mr Trump was seeking to pressure Mr Zelensky into opening investigations that would aid Trump's 2020 re-election effort.

The bureau does not appear to be pursuing a leak investigation, the person said.

The development, first reported by Yahoo News, adds a new wrinkle to the political debate over whether Mr Trump's conduct constitutes an impeachable offence – a fiercely partisan fight that the FBI has so far avoided.

Congressional investigators are holding public hearings examining whether the president conditioned a White House meeting and crucial security assistance to Ukraine, which is battling Russian-backed separatists in its eastern region, on a promise by Mr Zelensky to publicly announce two investigations that would benefit Mr Trump politically.

One investigation involved Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company whose founder has been targeted by corruption prosecutors and on whose board former vice president Joe Biden's son, Hunter, once sat. The other investigation sought by Mr Trump focused on a widely discredited theory that Ukraine, not Russia, hacked the Democratic National Committee in the 2016 election.

The Justice Department determined in September, after reviewing the whistleblower's complaint, that it saw insufficient evidence to undertake a criminal investigation into Mr Trump for possible campaign finance violations. At the time, spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said "no further action was warranted".

It is unclear what precisely the FBI is investigating in its request to question the whistleblower, or whether it did so with the approval of Justice Department officials.

Justice Department prosecutors in New York are investigating the financial interactions between the president's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and two businessman accused of violating campaign finance laws. That investigation also involves figures in Ukraine.

Mr Trump and his supporters have sought to publicly unmask the whistleblower.

"I do not believe that DOJ's declination decision should or could preclude the FBI from investigating further," said Chuck Rosenberg, a former federal prosecutor. "If the FBI has information about potential crimes, they have an obligation to look further."

Mr Bakaj and Mr Zaid have received death threats targeting themselves and their client. Though they have reported those threats to the FBI, there is no indication that the bureau's interview request has to do with that issue, said one person familiar with the matter.

The lawyers have offered to make their client available to answer written questions from Congressional investigators, but lawmakers have yet to accept that offer.

The Washington Post