Whistleblower willing to answer questions

Trump's accuser offers to give written responses to Republican lawmakers

WASHINGTON - The anonymous whistleblower whose complaint triggered an impeachment investigation into US President Donald Trump is willing to answer written questions submitted by Republican lawmakers, the person's lawyer said.

The offer made over the weekend to Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House of Representatives' Intelligence Committee, was aimed in part at fending off escalating attacks by Trump and his GOP allies who are demanding the whistleblower's identity be revealed.

The offer would allow Republicans to ask questions of the whistleblower without having to go through the committee's chairman, Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California.

"Being a whistleblower is not a partisan job nor is impeachment an objective. That is not our role," Mark Zaid, the whistleblower's attorney, tweeted on Sunday.

"We will ensure timely answers," he said.

Zaid said the whistleblower would answer questions directly from Republican members "in writing, under oath& penalty of perjury." Only queries seeking the person's identity won't be answered, he said.

Nunes' office did not have an immediate comment.

The surprise proposal came as Trump stepped up attacks on the whistleblower as lacking credibility, tweeting on Sunday that the person "must come forward".

In an anonymous complaint this summer, the whistleblower raised concerns about the White House's interactions with Ukraine, including a July 25 phone call between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that prompted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to initiate the impeachment inquiry in late September.

Trump was alleged to have abused his power by using military aid to pressure Zelensky into investigating former US vice-president Joe Biden, a top-tier 2020 Democratic presidential contender. The White House allegedly tried to cover it up.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing or a "quid pro quo".

The White House has dismissed those allegations and made clear that it will not cooperate with House investigators by providing documents or witnesses because it considers the impeachment inquiry unfair and illegitimate.

Democrats are heading into a crucial phase of their impeachment inquiry as they aim to move toward public impeachment hearings later this month. In the coming week, they invited 11 witnesses, including Energy Secretary Rick Perry and former national security adviser John Bolton for closed-door interviews.

"Reveal the Whistleblower and end the Impeachment Hoax!" Trump tweeted on Sunday.

Trump later pushed the news media to divulge the whistleblower's identity, asserting that the person's accounting of events is incorrect. The whistleblower's complaint has been corroborated by people with firsthand knowledge of the events and who have appeared at House hearings.

"They know who it is. You know who it is. You just don't want to report it," Trump told reporters at the White House. "And you know you'd be doing the public a service if you did."

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Sunday suggested that written testimony would not satisfy Republicans.

"When you're talking about the removal of the president of the United States, undoing democracy, undoing what the American public had voted for, I think that individual should come before the committee," the California Republican said on CBS's Face the Nation.

Since the start of the inquiry, House investigators have spoken to roughly a dozen former and current Trump administration officials behind closed committee doors.

The Democratic-controlled House approved a resolution last week that establishes procedures for public hearings in the impeachment inquiry and the release of deposition transcripts, among other things, signaling that the next phase of proceedings could start soon.

Jackie Speier, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on Sunday that transcripts of the depositions will probably be released in the coming week.

Ap - Xinhua