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SALT LAKE CITY — Rep. Chris Stewart said he’s uncomfortable with President Donald Trump asking the leader of Ukraine to investigate a political rival, calling it an “awkward” thing for him to do.
“But are you going to convince the American people that that’s an impeachable offense when he asks for nothing in return, he extends nothing in return?” the Utah Republican said KSL Newsradio’s “Dave and Dujanovic” show Wednesday.
The transcript of the July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky doesn’t reveal even the inference of a quid pro quo, Stewart said.
“It’s the key to the whole thing,” he said.
Meantime, as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Stewart had access Wednesday to the whistleblower report that ignited the firestorm. Because it remains classified, he said he couldn’t talk about it.
But he said in a statement, “After reading the whistleblower complaint, I have no additional concerns.”
Late Wednesday, Stewart tweeted that the complaint had been declassified. “I encourage you all to read it,” he wrote.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., launched a formal impeachment inquiry Tuesday that she said would focus on whether Trump abused his presidential powers and sought help from Ukraine to undermine Democratic foe Joe Biden and help his own re-election. Pelosi said such action would be a “betrayal of his oath of office.”
“How could she possibly know that?” Stewart said. “She convicted him before she even held the first hearing on this issue.”
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said he hasn’t focused on the alleged quid pro quo as others have. The question of whether the president asked or pressed a foreign leader to carry out a political investigation is troubling, he said.
“My reaction was the same as I had a few days ago, which is this remains deeply troubling and we’ll see where it leads,” Romney told the Atlantic’s McKay Coppins during a panel discussion in Washington.
In the days before the call, Trump ordered a freeze on nearly $400 million in military aid for Ukraine, fueling speculation that he was holding out the money as leverage on Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, who was involved with a Ukrainian company. Trump acknowledged blocking the funds but later released them.
Stewart said discussions between the administration and members of Congress about withholding the aid predated the phone call by months. He said Trump’s threat of withholding military aid was to get the European nations on board, specifically Germany, to help Ukraine as they had promised.
“He was frustrated by that,” Stewart said.
People shouldn’t rush to impeach Trump without hearing all the evidence. It’s unfair to say the president betrayed the country before knowing what happened, he said.
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AP Explains: How the ground shifted on Trump impeachment
After more than two years of jousting over President Donald Trump's conduct, the ground suddenly shifted in Congress and a move toward impeachment broke free of constraints.“My goal isn’t to protect the president or anyone. My goal is just to find out the truth,” said Stewart, a member of the House Intelligence Committee.
“If President Trump or anyone that’s in the administration did something that was illegal and impeachable, I would vote to impeach on that,” he said. “I’m just saying let’s wait and see the evidence.”
While the Trump administration released a transcript of the Trump-Zelenksy phone call, it has withheld other details of the whistleblower’s complaint from Congress.
Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, introduced a resolution Wednesday calling for the whistleblower report to be sent to the House and Senate intelligence committees. The Senate passed the same resolution Tuesday.
“Impeachment inquiries are deeply serious matters and should not be entered into lightly,” Curtis said in a statement.
The acting director of National Intelligence and the Intelligence Community inspector general are scheduled to appear before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday.
Curtis said the next step is to ensure the House and Senate committees have access to the report. He said it’s for all of the facts to come out so the process can move forward without partisan politics.
