President Donald Trump demands to meet anonymous whistleblower

Donald Trump has demanded to meet the anonymous whistleblower at the heart of an impeachment inquiry into the US president.

In a series of tweets, he wrote: "I want to meet not only my accuser, who presented SECOND & THIRD HAND INFORMATION, but also the person who illegally gave this information, which was largely incorrect, to the 'Whistleblower.'

"Was this person SPYING on the U.S. President? Big Consequences!"

The whistleblower, who is reportedly a CIA officer, claims the president pressured his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate political rival Joe Biden, who is campaigning to run against Mr Trump in the 2020 election.

They allege the White House tried to "lock down" the call, which was made on 25 July, and put the details on a classified computer server.

The White House's handling of calls with foreign heads has now triggered an impeachment inquiry by the Democrats.

However Mr Trump says the whistleblower "represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way".

He has repeatedly denied the allegations and says they are politically motivated.

US media reports the White House has since severely limited the number of people with access to details of President Trump's phone conversations with world leaders.

Access to transcripts of conversations with leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been tightly restricted.

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According to CBS News, the whistleblower is now under federal protection as they fear for their safety.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff says he expects the whistleblower to testify in the inquiry "very soon".

Mr Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has also told Sky News he would like to testify to Congress over the impeachment allegations, saying the president "didn't do a darn thing wrong".

Mr Trump has sought to implicate Mr Biden and his son in the corruption that has plagued Ukraine.

Joe Biden led the Obama administration's diplomatic dealings with Kyiv, while his son Hunter served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.

There has been no evidence of wrongdoing by either of the Bidens.

In a tweet on Sunday night, Joe Biden wrote: "President Trump is trying to hijack this election. We cannot let him get away with it."