President Trump Engages In More Back And Forth On Impeachment Charges

WASHINGTON, DC (KDKA) -- On Wednesday, President Trump launched an attack on House Intelligence chairman U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff and congressional Democrats.

"These are bad people, these are dishonest people," he called them.

Schiff's committee is investigating whether the President stopped military aid to Ukraine to force the Ukrainian president to investigate a political opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden.

"There was no quid pro quo," Trump said again.

The President insists the whistleblower has it all wrong, but Democrats are subpoenaing witnesses to get the truth, and Schiff warned if the President stonewalls it could lead to an obstruction of justice impeachment count.

"If they are going to prevent witnesses from coming forward to testify on the allegations in the whistleblower's complaint," said Schiff, "that will create an adverse inference that those allegations are in fact correct."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Democrats of bullying witnesses, while the State Department's Inspector General went to Capitol Hill to provide documents related to Ukraine.

At the same time, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat, warned, "President Trump's attacks on the intelligence community whistleblower threaten our national security and add to his record of impeachable conduct. Protecting whistleblowers is a core American value. It's time for Republican members of Congress to stop acting like lapdogs for President Trump and stand up for the rule of law."

Late on Wednesday, the New York Times reported Schiff's committee learned of the whistleblower before the whistleblower filed the report, leading to this unsubstantiated claim by the President.

"I think it's a scandal that he knew before. I'd go a step further. I think he probably helped write it," President Trump claimed.

That charge was quickly denied by Schiff's committee.

"Like other whistleblowers have done before and since under Republican and Democratic-controlled committees, the whistleblower contacted the committee for guidance on how to report possible wrongdoing within the jurisdiction of the intelligence community," Patrick Boland, a spokesman for Schiff, told the New York Times, adding that Schiff saw no part of the report before it was filed.