![]() HARRIS: You know, again, if this - if this didn't involve Mr. INSKEEP: Should any president of the United States be making official phone calls to other heads of state and be asking for an investigation of a political rival? Is that ever correct? I think we're way too early in this to draw conclusions. Gop rep andy harris pro#I mean, the bottom line is that if, in fact, you know, the president had - if there was a quid pro quo, that would be wrong. And the question was - is anything at all inappropriate here? Do you have an answer to that? I mean, people are listening to you right now, Congressman. I fully believe everything should be aired out. So you know, we should just air everything out. He said that about an investigation of CrowdStrike. But in fact, he didn't say that about the Bidens. And in fact, you know, there's been linkage to the fact that the president said, you know, do me a favor. A very, very small period of time was spent on the Bidens. Again, I urge all your listeners look at the transcript themselves. Biden was only mentioned - the Bidens were mentioned once on of the transcript. But are you taking the position that utterly nothing whatsoever was wrong with this phone call - that it was a perfect phone call, as the president has said? I understand saying that there might be bias. Tom Bossert, the president's own former homeland security adviser has said, quote, "I'm deeply disturbed by this phone call." I just want to make sure that I'm clear. Something horrible happened please talk to my personal lawyer. The largest single thing in the transcript is the president, a number of times, saying he is interested in Joe Biden. Let's get back to the essence of this, though. INSKEEP: I just wonder - if I can, I mean, you're talking about the details of this transcript. So again, I urge the American people just, you know, read the transcripts for themselves because, again, the whistleblower may have - may have brought about the complaint from a biased viewpoint. It really focused on investigation of CrowdStrike. The phone call really didn't focus on the Bidens. I mean, you know, if a quid pro quo - if the allegation was that there was a quid pro quo for Ukrainian aid, clearly that didn't occur on the phone call. And it was accurately described, wasn't it? For example, there was a description of a phone call, and now we have the rough transcript - the rough notes of the phone call. And so far as I know, they have checked out. INSKEEP: Although it is very interesting - isn't it? - even if there were some political bias on the part of the whistleblower, he makes these - or he or she makes these allegations, then we have to go check them out. I think the American people need to know who it is and what potential motivations they might have had. You know, the rumor is - and I think the inspector general hinted - that, you know, there could be political bias there. I think we're going to have to find the whistleblower's identity sooner or later. Now, the president said over the weekend - among many, many other things - I deserve to meet my accuser, by which he seems to mean the whistleblower. Congressman, welcome to the program.ĪNDY HARRIS: It's good to be with you, Steve. And he's on the line - from Tunisia, by the way. He is co-chair of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus. Republican Congressman Andy Harris of Maryland has been closely following all of this. His personal Twitter account sent more than 80 messages denouncing his critics and sharing videos of his supporters. INSKEEP: President Trump spent the weekend focused on impeachment. But we are ready to hear from the whistleblower as soon as that is done. I - you know, it will depend probably more on how quickly the director of national intelligence can complete the security clearance process for the whistleblower's lawyers. On "ABC News" yesterday, Committee Chairman Adam Schiff was asked how soon that could happen.ĪDAM SCHIFF: Very soon. The House Intelligence Committee wants to hear from a whistleblower who first called attention to the president's phone call to the president of Ukraine. They are focused on the president's effort to persuade Ukraine to investigate a political rival. House leaders have indicated they want to move quickly. We are rapidly approaching public hearings, part of a House impeachment inquiry into President Trump. ![]()
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