House approves whistleblower resolution as lawmakers begin reviewing complaint

House Democrats announced plans to vote on the resolution Tuesday — the same day that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry — in the wake of outrage over reports that the President pressured a foreign leader in an effort to target a political rival. It was not clear until late in the day on Wednesday when the complaint would be transmitted to the Hill, if at all.

The vote took place just hours after the White House released a transcript showing that President Donald Trump repeatedly pushed for Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter, during a July 25 phone call. CNN has previously reported that the call was part of the whistleblower complaint submitted to the Intelligence Community Inspector General.

The whistleblower complaint about Trump’s communications with Ukraine was hand delivered Wednesday afternoon to Capitol Hill for lawmakers to review.

Sen. Richard Burr, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that he has started to read the document, but declined to give his initial thoughts.

Members of the Democratic-led House Intelligence Committee are also reviewing the documents.

It’s not just Democrats who have vowed to find out the details of the whistleblower complaint.

On Tuesday, the Senate also adopted by unanimous consent its own resolution authored by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer urging the administration to provide the full complaint to Congress.

Earlier on Wednesday ahead of the final vote on the resolution, the House adopted an amendment to its resolution offered by Democratic Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania to make it identical to the resolution passed the day before by the Senate.

Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced the vote on the resolution on Tuesday, saying in a joint statement that “the House will vote on a resolution making it clear Congress’s disapproval of the Administration’s effort to block the release of the complaint and the need to protect the whistleblower.”

House Democratic caucus chair Hakeem Jeffries said at a news conference on Wednesday morning that the resolution would demand the release of “the full and unredacted version” of the complaint.

“We can only imagine what is in that document and we will obtain it and the American people will be able to see it,” he said.