Whistleblower Report Evokes Partisan Response From Local Congressmen

PITTSBURGH (KDKA)-- The whistleblower's report -- the subject of hearings by the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday -- seemed to reinforce the partisan take of local Democrats and Republicans.

"If all these allegations turn out to be true, then yeah absolutely I think these are impeachable offenses but we have to get there," U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, a Forest Hills Democrat, told KDKA political editor Jon Delano.

"There needs to be proof. Right now, they're allegations."

The allegation made by a whistleblower and found "credible" and "urgent" by the Inspector General is that President Trump stopped military aid to Ukraine in order to pressure the Ukrainian president to investigate a political rival, Joe Biden, and then sought to conceal the phone conversation.

Doyle says the whistleblower's claims are explosive.

"It looks like we have the makings of a possible cover-up of them trying to make sure that this phone conversation never saw the light of day."

But U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, a Peters Republican, dismisses all this as part of what he calls a "fake impeachment inquiry."

"If you read the whistleblower's report, it reads like a high school gossip column that has professional formatting."

"It's all hearsay. It's all, I hear this from this person," says the Republican.

"It's laughable that we're taking this seriously."

Fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly of Butler accused "Socialist Democrats" of trying to keep the President from doing his job.

U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican, had nothing to add to his earlier statement that the President's conduct was inappropriate but not impeachable, while U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat, said it confirmed the need to move forward with impeachment.