WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A second whistleblower came forward, saying they have information about President Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine -- the focus of an impeachment inquiry.
The attorney for both whistleblowers said this person has "firsthand knowledge" to corroborate allegations in the original complaint.
The whistleblowers accused President Trump of pressuring Ukraine to dig up dirt on his political opponents, and a White House coverup.
U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, (R-Wisconsin) defended President Trump Sunday morning, Oct. 6 on Meet the Press with a conspiracy theory, suggesting he was set up.
"Unlike the narrative of the press that President Trump wants to dig up dirt on his 2020 opponent, what he wants is he wants an accounting of what happened in 2016," said Senator Johnson. "Who set him up? Did things spring from Ukraine?"
Johnson, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee in Congress, also said in the interview he "doesn't trust" the CIA or FBI.
President Trump responded on Twitter, saying, "Democratic lawyer is same for both whistleblowers? All support Obama and Crooked Hillary. Witch hunt!"
However, rough transcripts released by the White House of the president's Ukraine call showed him pressuring the foreign nation.
Below is a transcript of the conversation on "Meet the Press," as released by Senator Johnson's office:
Sen. Johnson says Pres. Trump blocked Ukraine aid
Senator Johnson said Friday, Oct. 4 he learned from a U.S. ambassador that President Trump was tying military aid for Ukraine to an investigation of the 2016 election. But when the senator asked President Trump if he could assure the Ukraine leadership the money would be coming, the president blocked him from carrying that message.
Johnson, a leader of the Senate's Ukraine caucus, made several trips to the Eastern European ally this year after the election of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. He told the Wall Street Journal that Gordon Sondland, the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, told him the Ukraine aid, which is part of the country's defenses against Russia, was being linked to President Trump's desire to have Zelenskiy's team investigate the 2016 U.S. elections.
Separately, Johnson told reporters in Sheboygan, Wis., that President Trump had blocked his suggestion that he carry a message to Ukraine's president assuring him that U.S. military aid was on the way.
"I was surprised by the president's reaction and realized we had a sales job to do," Johnson told reporters.
The senator's remarks fill in more details about events at the heart of the Democrats' impeachment inquiry. The probe deepened this week with the release of text messages in which Sondland and other diplomats tried to broker a meeting between President Trump and Zelenskiy, on the condition that Ukraine open an investigation into a gas company where Joe Biden's son had served on the board.
Johnson has largely stood by President Trump and told reporters in Washington last week that he thinks the whole complaint against the president, sparked by a government whistleblower's allegations, has been "blown way out of proportion."
The senator told Washington reporters last week that he briefed President Trump before and after the Ukraine visits and understood the president's desire to root out corruption that has long plagued the Eastern European ally. He also agrees with President Trump's desire to have NATO allies contribute more money toward their security.
"I'm completely sympathetic with President Trump wanting to get the truth, where did this Russia narrative begin?" Johnson said about the 2016 election.
"I take what President Trump is saying at face value," said Johnson, who's leading some of those investigations, including calling on the Justice Department to probe a Ukrainian company affiliated with Biden's son. He said Trump is "concerned about corruption and continues to say European allies need to step up."
Johnson was among those who traveled to Ukraine in May, with Energy Secretary Rick Perry, for Zelenskiy's inauguration after Vice President Mike Pence was unable to make the trip.
On his return, Johnson joined others to brief President Trump in the Oval Office.
Johnson recalled Friday that he and others were confident in the new Ukrainian president and wanted to share their enthusiasm with President Trump.
"We were trying to encourage the president to show a great deal of support" in backing the new leader, he told reporters in Wisconsin.
Ahead of his next trip to Ukraine, in September, he told the Wall Street Journal he was informed by Sondland of the tie-in to the military aid.
"At that suggestion, I winced," Johnson told the Journal. "My reaction was: Oh, God. I don't want to see those two things combined."
Sondland would have known what was underway. It was about that time, in August, that the top diplomat and two others were scrambling to prevent their attempt to broker a meeting between President Trump and Zelenskiy spiral into a quid-pro-quo for the military aid, according to text messages released by the chairmen of the House oversight committees in the impeachment inquiry.
Johnson said that in a call with President Trump the next day he tried to convince the president to let him tell Zelinskiy the military aid would be coming but was rebuffed.
Republicans have been reluctant to break with President Trump, and Johnson also suggested he was standing by the president.
"I certainly understood President Trump had real concern about corruption in general," Johnson said Friday.
"I'm very sympathetic to the fact what he's been dragged through," he said about the 2016 election investigations. "He'd like to understand what happened."