Trump impeachment: Second whistleblower comes forward ‘with first-hand knowledge’ of corruption allegations

A second whistleblower has come forward “with first-hand knowledge” of explosive allegations against Donald Trump that triggered an impeachment inquiry.

In what could be a damaging blow to the president’s repeated denials of wrongdoing over his phone call with Ukraine’s leader, the official is said to have already been interviewed by Michael Atkinson, the inspector general of the US Intelligence Community.

News of the development was revealed by the attorney representing the whistleblower who first reported Mr Trump’s phone call with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he pressured him to investigate key political rival and potential 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden.

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The attorney, Mark Zaid, told ABC News he was now representing both officials, adding that they are protected in law from being fired in retaliation.

He said the latest whistleblower had not yet spoken to congressional committees investigating the alleged offences.

Shape Created with Sketch. Everyone Trump has fired or forced out Show all 13 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Everyone Trump has fired or forced out 1/13 John Bolton Trump claimed to have fired Bolton, his national security adviser, while Bolton claimed he offered to resign. An anonymous White House source that Bolton's departure came as a result of the national security adviser working too independently of the president AFP/Getty 2/13 Anthony Scaramucci Scaramucci lasted only six days in his role as Trump's communications director before being fired by John Kelly, the incoming chief of staff Getty 3/13 Jeff Sessions Attorney General Sessions was asked to resign after nearly two years of drawing Trump's ire, most notably with regards to the Mueller Probe Getty 4/13 Rex Tillerson Tillerson, Trump's first secretary of state, was fired after a series of clashes with the president over policy Getty 5/13 James Mattis Mattis served as secretary of defense from the beginning of Trump's administration until retiring on 1 January 2019. However, the president later claimed that he had "essentially fired" Mattis Getty 6/13 James Comey Comey was fired as director of the FBI early in Trump's presidency after serving in the role for four years prior. His dismissal is widely thought to have been related to the Russia investigation Getty 7/13 Reince Priebus Priebus, Trump's first chief of staff, was forced out after six tumultuous months AFP/Getty 8/13 David Shulkin Veterans affairs secretary Shulkin claims that he was fired, the White House claims that he resigned Getty 9/13 John Kelly Kelly, Trump's second chief of staff, was forced out after 17 months in office. His departure was a confused affair though it is clear that Trump wanted Kelly out AFP/Getty 10/13 Michael Flynn Flynn lasted 24 days as Trump's national security adviser before being fired for lying to the FBI Getty 11/13 Lee Cisna Cisna served as director of citizen and immigration services between October 2017 and June 2019 before being asked to resign amid a major personnel change in the department of homeland security 12/13 Madeline Westerhout Westerhout served as Trump's personal assistant after leaking private information about his family AFP/Getty 13/13 Mira Ricardel Ricardel was forced out of her role as Deputy National Security Advisor after first lady Melania Trump publicly called for her to be fired 1/13 John Bolton Trump claimed to have fired Bolton, his national security adviser, while Bolton claimed he offered to resign. An anonymous White House source that Bolton's departure came as a result of the national security adviser working too independently of the president AFP/Getty 2/13 Anthony Scaramucci Scaramucci lasted only six days in his role as Trump's communications director before being fired by John Kelly, the incoming chief of staff Getty 3/13 Jeff Sessions Attorney General Sessions was asked to resign after nearly two years of drawing Trump's ire, most notably with regards to the Mueller Probe Getty 4/13 Rex Tillerson Tillerson, Trump's first secretary of state, was fired after a series of clashes with the president over policy Getty 5/13 James Mattis Mattis served as secretary of defense from the beginning of Trump's administration until retiring on 1 January 2019. However, the president later claimed that he had "essentially fired" Mattis Getty 6/13 James Comey Comey was fired as director of the FBI early in Trump's presidency after serving in the role for four years prior. His dismissal is widely thought to have been related to the Russia investigation Getty 7/13 Reince Priebus Priebus, Trump's first chief of staff, was forced out after six tumultuous months AFP/Getty 8/13 David Shulkin Veterans affairs secretary Shulkin claims that he was fired, the White House claims that he resigned Getty 9/13 John Kelly Kelly, Trump's second chief of staff, was forced out after 17 months in office. His departure was a confused affair though it is clear that Trump wanted Kelly out AFP/Getty 10/13 Michael Flynn Flynn lasted 24 days as Trump's national security adviser before being fired for lying to the FBI Getty 11/13 Lee Cisna Cisna served as director of citizen and immigration services between October 2017 and June 2019 before being asked to resign amid a major personnel change in the department of homeland security 12/13 Madeline Westerhout Westerhout served as Trump's personal assistant after leaking private information about his family AFP/Getty 13/13 Mira Ricardel Ricardel was forced out of her role as Deputy National Security Advisor after first lady Melania Trump publicly called for her to be fired

Mr Zaid said he did not know whether this second whistleblower is the same official that The New York Times claimed was considering whether to testify to congress about the Ukraine scandal.

However, he said that they worked in intelligence and had “first-hand knowledge that supported” the original whistleblower, although they have not yet filed a formal complaint with the inspector general.

In the coming week the impeachment inquiry is expected to intensify, with two key protagonists in the scandal testifying to congress.

On Tuesday the three House of Representatives committees leading the investigation will hear from Gordon Sondland, a hotelier who became US ambassador to the European Union after donating $1m to Mr Trump’s inauguration fund.

Text messages released last week suggest Mr Sondland was involved in efforts by Rudy Giuliani, the president’s private attorney, to dig up dirt on Mr Biden and link interference in the 2016 US election to Ukraine. In one text message, he appears to dismiss fears from the US ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor, that withholding military aid to Kiev until politicians there committed to investigations of Mr Trump’s political enemies represented a quid pro quo.

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On Friday congress is expected to hear testimony from Mr Taylor’s predecessor as US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.

A career diplomat, she was abruptly recalled from her posting in May this year. It has been suggested this was because she was refusing to cooperate with Mr Giuliani’s efforts.

Mr Trump appears to refer to her several times in the partial transcript of the July phone call with Mr Zelensky, which triggered the impeachment probe, referring to her as “the woman” and “bad news” and saying: “Well, she’s going to go through some things.”

Committee members will hope that both Mr Sondland and Ms Yovanovitch will be able to shed light on whether Mr Trump was effectively running a shadow foreign policy in Ukraine dedicated to smearing his enemies and chasing conspiracy theories about the 2016 election.

Mr Trump began the day by lashing out again at a fellow Republican, the Utah senator and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who has cautiously criticised the president over the Ukraine scandal.

The president tweeted: “The Democrats are lucky that they don’t have any Mitt Romney types. They may be lousy politicians, with really bad policies (Open Borders, Sanctuary Cities etc.), but they stick together!”

Later he returned to his attacks on Mr Biden and his son, Hunter, repeating accusations of corruption in the latter’s business dealings in Ukraine and China, but again offering no evidence.

He wrote: “It is INCREDIBLE to watch and read the Fake News and how they pull out all stops to protect Sleepy Joe Biden and his thrown out of the Military son, Hunter, who was handed $100,000 a month (Plus,Plus) from a Ukrainian based company, even though he had no experience in energy,...

“....and separately got 1.5 Billion Dollars from China despite no experience and for no apparent reason. There is NO WAY these can be legitimate transactions? As lawyers & others have stated, as President, I have an OBLIGATION to look into possible, or probable, CORRUPTION!”

Meanwhile it has emerged that a federal judge has instructed the White House not to destroy any records of meetings or communications with foreign leaders.