Yet another bombshell about some info being suppressed that allegedly centers on (who else?) President Donald Trump. We’ve had the corruption of the Harding Administration. The lawlessness and stonewalling of the Nixon Administration. Put these two together and you have the Trump Administration, the CC administration: Cover Up and Corruption. The Washington Post broke this big story:
The whistleblower complaint that has triggered a tense showdown between the U.S. intelligence community and Congress involves President Trump’s communications with a foreign leader, according to two former U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
Trump’s interaction with the foreign leader included a “promise” that was regarded as so troubling that it prompted an official in the U.S. intelligence community to file a formal whistleblower complaint with the inspector general for the intelligence community, said the former officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
It was not immediately clear which foreign leader Trump was speaking with or what he pledged to deliver, but his direct involvement in the matter has not been previously disclosed. It raises new questions about the president’s handling of sensitive information and may further strain his relationship with U.S. spy agencies. One former official said the communication was a phone call.
Speculation on Twitter (which serves an overdose of speculation, often stated with certainty) is that it could be the leaders of Russia, North Korea, or Israel. Or perhaps it is tied in with the (in)famous Trump meeting in Helsinki with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Some now speculate maybe it was the translator. Eventually there will be an answer — whether via more leaks or when the history is written about this norm-breaking, law-ignoring and corrupt administration.
The White House declined to comment. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and a lawyer representing the whistleblower declined to comment.
Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson determined that the complaint was credible and troubling enough to be considered a matter of “urgent concern,” a legal threshold that ordinarily requires notification of congressional oversight committees.
But acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire has refused to share details about Trump’s alleged transgression with lawmakers, touching off a legal and political dispute that has spilled into public and prompted speculation that the spy chief is improperly protecting the president.
The dispute is expected to escalate Thursday when Atkinson is scheduled to appear before the House Intelligence Committee in a classified session closed to the public. The hearing is the latest move by committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) to compel U.S. intelligence officials to disclose the full details of the whistleblower complaint to Congress.
Of all the nightmare scenarios that could constitute an “urgent, credible” whistleblower complaint from within the intelligence community, a Trump “promise” to a foreign leader has to be among the most alarming. https://t.co/HqCWrijYVr
— Ned Price (@nedprice) September 19, 2019
Most telling indicator that the intelligence community whistleblower story is incredibly important & dangerous for Trump is the fact that he hasn't tweeted about it yet.
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) September 19, 2019
It appears that the employee whistleblower may lawfully transmit the report in question directly to @RepAdamSchiff and his Senate counterpart upon notifying the DNI of the employee’s intent to do so when the DNI bottles up that report.
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) September 19, 2019
We don’t know what the “promise” was yet or who the foreign leader is. We don’t know a lot about the substance. But we do know p firmly that the Trump administration’s reaction was to panic, call in a fixer from DOJ, and contort the whistleblower law to keep it all secret.
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) September 19, 2019
This new reporting from WaPo moves the ball bigly. Not only did the whistleblower complaint concern Trump himself (surprise!), it turns out DOJ told the DNI not to transmit the complaint to Congress. And the DNI has complained to DOJ and the WH:https://t.co/gB696tk48F pic.twitter.com/eh8p7Z5Q9R
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) September 19, 2019
People familiar with this whistleblower complaint are risking prison time for leaking classified information to the press. This is how freaked out they are about the conduct of @realDonaldTrump and @ODNIgov Director. https://t.co/plwJIWb4g0
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) September 19, 2019
4/ Understand what it'd take for an intel community official to go whistleblower—this couldn't have been a garden-variety public faux pas. It had to be a clandestine act discovered through intelligence collection that bordered on the criminal or threatened U.S. national security.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) September 19, 2019
GO HERE for more reaction from blogs and websites.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.