The stare-down between US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Joseph Maguire and US Representative Adam Schiff (D‑California), chair of the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence over disclosure of a “credible” whistleblower complaint of “urgent concern” continues apace.
On 18 September 2019, Greg Miller, Ellen Nakashima, and Shane Harris writing for the Washington Post cite two unnamed “former US officials familiar with the matter” as saying that the whistleblower complaint “involves President Trump’s communications with a foreign leader” including a “promise” described by the Post sources as “troubling.”
The White House, the office of the DNI, and the whistleblower’s lawyer all declined the Post’s request for comment.
Michael Atkinson, US Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (ICIG) was scheduled to provide classified testimony to the US House Intelligence Committee earlier today. Schiff told the Post that Maguire had agreed to testify before that committee next week.
The Post writers report:
“The complaint was filed with Atkinson’s office on Aug. 12, a date on which Trump was at his golf resort in New Jersey. White House records indicate that Trump had had conversations or interactions with at least five foreign leaders in the preceding five weeks.”
Nicholas Fandos, Eileen Sullivan, Julian E. Barnes, and Matthew Rosenberg writing for the New York Times report that the whistleblower complaint “was related to a series of actions that go beyond any single discussion with a foreign leader.” The Times reporters cite two unnamed “officials familiar” with Atkinson’s classified testimony.
According to the Times report, Schiff said “he still did not know the contents of the complaint and had been unable to get an answer to whether the White House was involved in suppressing it.”
The Times reporters note that it’s unclear how “an exchange between Mr. Trump and a foreign leader could meet the legal standards for a whistle-blower complaint that the inspector general would deem an ‘urgent concern.’ ”
“Under the law, the complaint has to concern the existence of an intelligence activity that violates the law, rules or regulations, or otherwise amounts to mismanagement, waste, abuse, or a danger to public safety. But a conversation between two foreign leaders is not itself an intelligence activity.”
Atkinson received the whistleblower complaint on 12 August 2019, submitting it to Maguire two weeks later (and notifying both House and Senate intelligence committees of the existence — but not substance — of the complaint). Maguire is legally required to provide the complaint to the US Congress within seven days. Maguire has refused to provide the complaint, citing “legal guidance” from the US Justice Department.
Update: Saturday, 21 September 2019 5:26AM CDT: On 20 September 2019, the Washington Post and the New York Times both reported, citing unnamed sources, that President Donald Trump — and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani — repeatedly pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former US vice president (and current presidential candidate) Joe Biden and his family.
Authoritative, canonical source: Adam Schiff and Joseph Maguire continue their dance of the whistleblower complaint.
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