A second whistleblower has come out of silence to provide information on the Ukrainian case leading to an impeachment proceeding against Donald Trump. The latter has accused Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of “treason”.

Faced with an unprecedented crisis, Trump attacked Sunday night virulently on Twitter to the President of the House of Representatives, accusing him of “serious crimes, misdemeanor and even treason”, and demanding his dismissal.

….This makes Nervous Nancy every bit as guilty as Liddle’ Adam Schiff for High Crimes and Misdemeanors, and even Treason. I guess that means that they, along with all of those that evilly “Colluded” with them, must all be immediately Impeached!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2019

Pelosi announced last month the launch of the impeachment proceedings against the president. Mark Zaid, the lawyer for the first whistleblower, has announced the existence of a second informant.

Anonymous informant

This intelligence officer remains anonymous and it is not known whether he is a man or a woman. He or she has “also made a statement protected by law and can not suffer retaliation,” said the lawyer. “This whistleblower has first-hand information.”

Zaid’s cabinet defends the interests of a top intelligence official who was alarmed by a July 25 telephone conversation between Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.

He had ruled that in this appeal, Mr. Trump had “solicited the interference” of Ukraine in the campaign for his reelection in 2020, asking him to investigate in order to gather compromising information about one of his rivals, the Democrat Joe Biden.

Another Mark Zaid lawyer, Andrew Bakaj, hinted that the number of whistleblowers likely to provide information on the Ukrainian case could increase further. The US president had not yet reacted to the announcements of the law firm Sunday.

An “obligation” for Trump

But he resumed his line of defense by saying that he had “the obligation to examine any possible or probable corruption”, to justify the requests addressed to Ukraine but also to China to investigate Joe Biden and on his son Hunter who did business in those two countries.

The day before, he accused the press and the Democrats of relying on “second-hand” information issued by the whistleblower.

The first whistleblower acknowledged that he was not among the officials who had listened to the call between the US and Ukrainian presidents. But he said he had traded with more than half a dozen officials “very troubled” by the exchange.

Remarkably, Mr. Trump had no activity scheduled for Sunday, when he used to go to one of his golf courses at the weekend.

Silent Republicans

For the moment, most Republican tenors refrain from criticizing Donald Trump, who has repeatedly stated that his conversation with Zelensky was “perfect”.

Among the exceptions, 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a Utah senator, said it was “appalling” for the president to call foreign powers to investigate Biden. Which earned him being called “pretentious moron” Saturday by Donald Trump. Another Republican Senator, Susan Collins, also distanced herself from the President.

If Democrats vote to indict him in the House of Representatives, which they control, Republicans are in a position to defeat impeachment in the Senate, where they are the majority.

On Saturday, the Trump administration blasted the “harassment” of Democrats against it after the opposition summoned the White House to provide documents as part of their investigation into impeachment proceedings.

Biden mocked

Resuming his unsupported accusations against the Biden family, Donald Trump also quipped Sunday about the chances of the Democrats removing him from the White House. “I’d love to run for Joe Biden,” said the billionaire on Twitter. But “Joe the Asleep is not going to get to the starting line (…). Joe should give up.”

Now opting for the counter-offensive after being at a standstill, Joe Biden sent him his strongest response to date on Saturday, accusing him of “abuse of power” in a Washington Post forum. And to warn him: “know that I will not disappear. You will not destroy me and you will not destroy my family.