Donald Trump accused his opponents yesterday of attempting a “coup” by pursuing impeachment as he stepped up his rhetoric over the Ukraine whistleblower scandal.

The US president went on the attack as Democrats said they would subpoena the White House for documents related to how Mr Trump urged Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, the former vice-president and the front-runner for the 2020 presidential nomination.

With polls showing most Americans now support impeachment, Mr Trump has accused the Democrat leading the probe of treason and loosely referencing the prospect of civil war.

He wrote on Twitter: “As I learn more and more each day, I am coming to the conclusion that what is taking place is not an impeachment, it is a COUP…” In another tweet, he said the Democrats were wasting the country’s time on “bulls**t”.

The Democratic leadership shows no sign of slowing its probe, however. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, continued to condemn the president’s actions yesterday.

Mr Schiff said any refusal by the administration to hand over key documents will be taken as “evidence of obstruction of the lawful functions of Congress”, an indication that could be one of the articles of impeachment eventually brought against Mr Trump.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday admitted for the first time that he was on the call where Mr Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Mr Biden and his family.

Mr Trump has been pushing a claim that Mr Biden called for the sacking of a prosecutor to help his son Hunter, who was working for a Ukrainian gas company.

The Bidens have denied any wrongdoing and the push for the prosecutor’s dismissal was echoed by many Western countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday weighed in with support for Mr Trump, saying there was “nothing compromising” in the July 25 call. Mr Zelensky has denied knowing US military aid to Ukraine had been halted when he talked to Mr Trump.

Ukrainian authorities have also opened an investigation into illegal gambling allegations against a former Ukrainian prosecutor-general who repeatedly met Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump’s personal lawyer, who was pushing claims over the Bidens.

Mr Pompeo’s acknowledgment that he was on the call between Mr Trump and Zelensky came at the start of what was another busy day in the drive for impeachment by House Democrats.

Asked about the episode during a news conference in Rome, Mr Pompeo said: “I was on the phone call.”

In response to a multi-part question, he did not say whether he was comfortable with Mr Trump’s pressing of Mr Zelensky to investigate Mr Biden and his son. Mr Pompeo said the call focused on issues such as the threat Russia poses to Ukraine and the need for Ukraine to root out corruption.

He said the United States would continue to pursue those issues “even while all this noise is going on”.

During a September 22 appearance on ‘This Week’ on ABC, Mr Pompeo was asked what he knew about Mr Trump’s conversation with Mr Zelensky following an initial ‘Wall Street Journal’ report that the call was part of a whistleblower complaint.

Mr Pompeo responded by saying he hadn’t seen the whistleblower report. He later said he had seen a statement from the Ukrainian foreign minister that there was no pressure applied on Mr Zelensky. Mr Pompeo made no mention of being on the call.

Mr Pompeo also repeated his claims from a letter on Tuesday that House Democratic staffers have been seeking to intimidate State Department officials in their efforts to learn more about Mr Trump’s call with Mr Zelensky.

“We won’t tolerate folks on Capitol Hill bullying, intimidating State Department employees. That’s unacceptable,” Mr Pompeo said.

Former staff members who worked on foreign leader calls said it is very unusual for a secretary of state to listen in on calls with leaders from a country as small as Ukraine. Partly it is because the secretary of state’s schedule is very busy and rarely aligns with the president’s schedule of routine calls to heads of state, so they arrange only to be on major foreign leader conversations.

The former staffers said Mr Pompeo’s presence on this call suggests the subject or the purpose of the call had high importance to the president, and thus to him. © Washington Post

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