WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th September, 2019) Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Joseph Maguire is violating US law by refusing to provide Congress with a whistleblower complaint concerning a conversation between President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an interview on Tuesday.
"The DNI is at the present time breaking the law at the direction of the administration," Pelosi told an event sponsored by the Atlantic magazine.
As Pelosi spoke, Trump said on Twitter that he would release the entire transcript of his conversation with Zelensky, which has energized House Democratic advocates of impeachment.
Published accounts of the conversation claim that Trump pressed Zelensky to investigate Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President Joe Biden, business dealings in Ukraine.
Biden has bragged on camera that he threatened� withdrawing US aid to Ukraine if they do not fire the country prosecutor and thus end a criminal investigation into his son's business dealings in that country.
Those allegations raise the specter of Trump seeking political help from a foreign power for his 2020 re-election bid, according to Trump critics.
US law gives Congress access to whistleblower reports, which Maguire has refused to disclose, but not access to private conversations between the president and a foreign leader.
Pelosi plans to announce a decision on whether to proceed with an impeachment inquiry at 5:00 p.m. (9:00 p.m. GMT).
