WASHINGTON – Former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh, one of three Republicans running against President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination, said Friday that the president is “giving the country the middle finger” by asking the Ukrainian president to look into his Democratic rival Joe Biden.

Walsh argued that the GOP needs a "gut-check" after House Democrats launched a formal impeachment inquiry against Trump over his July 25 phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in which the president urged Zelenskyto work with Rudy Giuliani about opening an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter. The call is at the center of a declassified whistleblower complaint released Thursday.

“It’s clear that this president, and this is a serious thing to say, doesn’t give a damn about this country,” Walsh told CNN’s Brianna Keilar. He added that “all Donald Trump cares about is Donald Trump, and this (Trump) phone call, what we learned this week makes it clear."

He continued that “to put it quite simply, we have a president who doesn’t have any respect for the rule of law, he doesn’t have any respect for truth, and he’s got no guardrails.”

"If there’s one issue, Brianna, that has been eating at this country for the last three years, it’s foreign interference in our election," Walsh stated. "And here’s the president of the United States just a couple months ago on this call – it’s quite literally like he’s giving his middle finger to the American people. ‘I don’t care about that. I’m going to ask another government to interfere in our 2020 election. I dare you to come get me.’ He’s giving the country the middle finger and Republicans better understand that.

“Donald Trump, again, acting like some sort of mob boss, he thinks everything is about him and it’s not about the country,” Walsh added.

Walsh defended the whistleblower, saying they should be "praised and revered" by Americans after Trump said the source was “almost a spy” and suggested the culprit had committed treason.