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Trump hints at the death penalty for the whistleblower who alerted the intelligence community to his quid-pro-quo call with the Ukrainian president in newly leaked footage.
The footage shows Trump at a behind-closed-doors meeting with diplomats, raging at the whistleblower, who he called “sick” and “partisan.”
During his furious tirade, the President, who is facing an impeachment inquiry in the House, suggests that the whistleblower is nearly a “spy,” and that his crimes amount to “treason.”
Trump goes on to suggest “we should deal with this spy like we used to, back when we were smart,” alluding to the death penalty.
The damning footage, leaked on Thursday, is certainly alarming. After Trump’s infamous Ukraine call, this footage shows him rattled, angry and venomous. “I want to know who’s the person, who’s the person who gave the whistle-blower the information?”
Adam Schiff, House Intelligence Committee Chairman, condemned Trump’s dangerous rhetoric on Twitter. “The President’s suggestion that those involved in the whistleblower complaint should be dealt with as ‘we used to do’ for ‘spies and treason’ is a reprehensible invitation to violence against witnesses in our investigation.”
Schiff went on, “All Americans must denounce such witness intimidation.”
The short version of this breaking story is that, back in June, the day after the Mueller Report had wrapped, Trump had a phone call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymy Zelenski, wherein it appears as though Trump asks Zelenski to investigate allegations regarding Joe Biden.
It is heavily implied during the call that the US will withhold aid to Ukraine unless Zelenski complies with the demand. An anonymous whistleblower who was familiar with the call then deemed it “urgent” to inform the US intelligence community of the contents of the call.
The White House appears to have taken steps to block the whistleblower complaint from being seen outside of the top echelons of the Trump Administration. However, the document eventually broke, and in response, all hell has broken loose in American politics.
In the immediate aftermath of the whistleblower complaint becoming public, a partial transcript of Trump’s phone call was made available, and it is damning. As a result, the House has opened a formal impeachment inquiry, which has Trump and his team “shell-shocked” and “in panic mode” according to anonymous sources from within the White House.
