The intelligence community inspector general was largely tight-lipped during his closed-door briefing with the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday morning, but he did reveal that the whistleblower complaint centers on a series of actions, The New York Times reported.
Several news outlets have reported that the complaint discussed a phone call President Trump had with a foreign leader, but inspector general Michael Atkinson did not answer questions about who was referenced in the complaint, according to the New York Times.
It’s unclear, then, whether all of the actions allegedly mentioned in the complaint involve President Trump. CNN’s Jim Sciutto reported that Atkinson confirmed the complaint focused on multiple instances involving the President. Yet, the New York Times reported that Atkinson declined to confirm whether the complaint involved Trump.
According to CNN, Atkinson also shared some information about the process followed for handling the complaint.
https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/1174769815917121536
A person familiar with the complaint told the Times that it involves a commitment that Trump made during a conversation with a foreign leader.
According to CNN, Atkinson shared some information about the process followed for handling the complaint.
The IG for the intelligence community has been unwilling so far to share details of the whistleblower complaint as he answers questions to House Intel, per sources. He’s been taking about the process for handling the complaint.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 19, 2019
Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire has refused to share the contents of the potentially volatile whistleblower complaint with lawmakers, prompting a tense back-and-forth between Congress and the DNI. Maguire has agreed to testify in open session before the committee next week.
According to new reports on Thursday, an intelligence community official aware of Trump’s call with a foreign leader was so bothered by a “promise” Trump reportedly made on the call that the official filed a formal complaint with the inspector general.
Trump promptly denied that he would share anything inappropriate with a world leader on a call he know was monitored and dragged anyone “dumb enough” to believe the reports.
Wait a minute…Michael Flynn had much more experience with intelligence, government protocols…and he obviously didn’t think about other US intel ears on the line when HE spoke with Russians. And lied about it when they KNEW what was said. Was he more stupid than Trump or worse in his arrogance?
In other words, as Josh points out, Trump didn’t make this promise on a secure “populated” line. He probably used his cell phone.
Trump is the stupidest man.
It’s an interesting conundrum. Whistleblowers are allowed to exposed compromised intelligence agents and people in the intel department who are doing unethical things. Unfortunately, the President has the authority to declassify anything he wants. If the President wishes to share sensitive information with a foreign government, it’s not technically illegal, and so the whistleblower isn’t protected in such a case.
Who knew that having a compromised President could be so complicated?
Why do I think this hearing is going to consist of a lot of “name, rank, and service number”?