The US House Intelligence Committee has published a whistleblower letter, which claims the White House tried to “lock down” records of President Donald Trump’s call with his Ukrainian counterpart.
It comes as Mr Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to work with his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and the US attorney-general to investigate Joe Biden.
A White House memorandum on Wednesday showed during the call, made in July this year, Mr Trump raised unsubstantiated allegations that Mr Biden, the former US vice-president and Democrat candidate in the 2020 election, sought to interfere with a Ukrainian prosecutor's investigation of his son Hunter.
"There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great," Mr Trump said to President Zelenskiy.
"Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it ... It sounds horrible to me."
In the newly-published letter, an unnamed official says: "In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple US government officials that the president of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 US election".
Source: House Intelligence Committee"The president's personal lawyer, Mr Rudolph Giuliani, is a central figure in this effort.
"Attorney-General Barr appears to be involved as well".
The letter adds: "I am deeply concerned that the actions described below constitute 'a serious or flagrant problem, abuse or violation of law or Executive Order'... I am also concerned that these actions pose risks to US national security and undermine the US government's efforts to deter and counter foreign interference in US elections".
It says there were "approximately a dozen White House officials who listened to the call".
"In the days following the phone call, I learned from multiple US officials that senior White House officials had intervened to 'lock down' all records of the phone call, especially the official word for word transcript".
The letter was released on Thursday, but is dated August 12th.
Chairman of the US House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, says: “The committee this morning will be releasing the declassified whistleblower complaint that it received late last night from the ODNI.
"It is a travesty that it was held up this long. This complaint should never have been withheld from Congress.
"It exposed serious wrongdoing, and was found both urgent and credible by the Inspector General."
He adds: “This complaint is a roadmap for our investigation, and provides significant information for the committee to follow up on with other witnesses and documents. And it is corroborated by the call record released yesterday.
“I want to thank the whistleblower for having the courage to come forward, despite the reprisals they have already faced from the president and his acolytes.
"We will do everything in our power to protect this whistleblower, and every whistleblower, who comes forward.
“The public has a right to see the complaint and what it reveals.”
Top US Democrat, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, announced on Tuesday that the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry against President Trump.
