AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
Since the existence of a whistleblower complaint became known, each day has brought enough news to fill a week. Today was no different. First, a reminder of how we got here. It's been eight days since the existence of the complaint became public.
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BRIAN WILLIAMS: Day 974 of the Trump administration. Once again, we have breaking news tonight centering around that explosive whistleblower complaint from...
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
One day later, some of the specific allegations leaked - allegations that President Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to look for dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: President Trump has already admitted he spoke with Zelenskiy about Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It was largely the fact that we don't want our people, like Vice President Biden and his son, creating to the corruption already in the Ukraine.
CORNISH: As more information about the phone call and the complaint came out, congressional Democrats, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, escalated their talk about impeachment. By Tuesday, the speaker, who has avoided any and all talk on impeachment, shifted her position.
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NANCY PELOSI: The actions of the Trump presidency revealed a dishonorable fact of the president's betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. Therefore, today I'm announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry.
SHAPIRO: As House Democrats spoke out in support of that inquiry, the White House released its account of that conversation between President Trump and the Ukrainian president. Predictably, reactions to that summary fell along party lines. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham saw nothing wrong with the conversation.
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LINDSEY GRAHAM: From my point of view, to impeach any president over a phone call like this would be insane.
CORNISH: Democrat Hakeem Jeffries had a different take.
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HAKEEM JEFFRIES: To commence an investigation of the Biden family to dig up political dirt in order to bolster the president's electoral prospects in 2020, that is textbook abuse of power, and the transcripts have become exhibit A in that regard. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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