House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the Trump administration out on Tuesday for blocking the full disclosure of a whistleblower complaint against the president, a move which she blasted as a “violation of law.” “The intelligence community inspector general formally notified the Congress that the administration was forbidding him from turning over a whistleblower complaint—on Constitution Day,” she said during a Tuesday afternoon press conference where she announced a formal impeachment inquiry. The inquiry comes following reports that Trump pressured Ukrainian officials to investigate corruption allegations against Vice President Joe Biden and his son in exchange for military aid. According to Pelosi, Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was essentially asking a “foreign power to intervene” in his upcoming 2020 election. “This is a breach of this constitutional responsibilities,” she said.
The whistleblower complaint, reportedly submitted to the Intelligence Community's Inspector General, has not been handed over to Congress despite them requesting the full complaint from the Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire. Maguire reportedly refused to hand over the complaint after seeking legal guidance from officials at the Justice Department.
