House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned against retaliation by President Donald Trump on Friday as he lashed out at anyone who might have helped an intelligence whistleblower whose complaint is at the center of the impeachment probe.
The whistleblower's complaint alleged that Trump abused the power of his office to "solicit interference from a foreign country" in next year's US election.
In a July 25 phone call, days after ordering a freeze to some military assistance for Ukraine, Trump prodded new President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden and volunteered the assistance of both his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and Attorney General William Barr.
Late Thursday, Trump denounced people who might have talked to the whistleblower as "close to a spy" and suggested they engaged in treason, an act punishable by death.
Then on Friday, he targeted the complainant, a CIA officer, tweeting, "Sounding more and more like the so-called Whistleblower isn't a Whistleblower at all."
Pelosi told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" show, "I'm concerned about some of the president's comments about the whistleblower."
"They will take the time that they need, and we won't have the calendar be the arbiter," she said. But she added, "It doesn't have to drag on."
"The complaint raises serious allegations, and we need to determine whether they're credible or not."