GOP Sen. Ben Sasse calls whistleblower complaint 'troubling' and says Republicans should not rush to 'circle the wagons' and protect Trump

REUTERS/Gary Cameron

Ben Sasse speaking at CPAC in March.

• GOP Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska said Wednesday that Republicans should not dismiss the "troubling" nature of the whistleblower complaint.
• Sasse, who is on the Senate Intelligence Committee, and viewed the whistleblower complaint, which was released to members of intelligence committees in both the House and Senate.
• Sasse, who has been critical of President Donald Trump in the past, told reporters that "everybody in this whole process should slow down, this place is terrible at deliberation."
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Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who is on the Senate Intelligence Committee and viewed the whistleblower complaint, said Wednesday that lawmakers in his party should not dismiss the "troubling" nature of the whistleblower complaint.

Sasse, who has been critical of President Donald Trump in the past, told reporters that "everybody in this whole process should slow down, this place is terrible at deliberation."

"Republicans ought not to be rushing to circle the wagons to say there's no there there when there's obviously lots that's very troubling there," he said, joining Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, who also raised concerns about Trump's phone call with Zelensky.

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However, Sasse also had a word of advice for Democrats to not use "the word impeach before they have the whistleblower complaint or before they read any of the transcript."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House would pursue a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump, as well as continue investigations to determine the substance of Trump's call with Zelensky. A majority of the House expressed support for the inquiry Wednesday evening, comprised of 217 Democrats and Rep. Justin Amash, who left the Republican party earlier this year and is an Independent.

In the statement to reporters, Sasse said that "the administration ought not be attacking the whistleblower as some talking points suggest they plan to do." Regarding the media, the Nebraska senator said reporters "humbly should not pretend that this story is about something that's going to be resolved in the next two hours."

"Done right with lots of deliberation, this is going to take a lot of time, but there's obviously some really troubling things here," Sasse said in a statement. "But i think the partisan tribalism that is always insta-certain is a terrible idea."