A second whistleblower has come forward with information about President Donald Trump’s call with the president of Ukraine, according to attorneys representing that whistleblower and the intelligence official whose earlier complaint set off a series of events that led to an impeachment inquiry.
The second whistleblower “has first-hand knowledge” of the events, according to the first whistleblower’s attorney, Mark Zaid. The original whistleblower did not listen directly to Trump’s call, but talked to people who had.
The first complaint, filed in August with the intelligence community’s inspector general, centered on a July 25 phone call during which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to look into why Ukraine’s top prosecutor had apparently ended an investigation into a Ukrainian gas company that once employed former Vice President Joe Biden’s son as a board member. House Democrats launched a formal impeachment inquiry last month as details of the conversation were made public.
Legal sources told NBC News that second whistleblower is not filing a separate formal complaint, but that they are still entitled to legal protections for cooperating with the inspector general.
Trump has publicly maintained that the call was “absolutely perfect” and “totally appropriate.”
