The current scandal floating around Washington is something that may or may not have happened. At a classified briefing today, Intelligence Community IG Michael Atkinson was asked about a rumored “whistleblower” case that Adam Schiff believes a) concerns President Trump b) talking to a foreign leader that c) offended said whistleblower. At issue is a law that requires the IC to provide certain investigative reports to Congress under certain circumstances.
The Washington Post has reported this:
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.
The best guess is that the foreign leader was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the “promise” was of better relations with the US if the Ukraine reenergized its investigation into Joe Biden’s role in influence peddling to aid his son, Hunter, when he was a director (how did that happen, right?) of Ukraine’s largest national gas company and his intervention to get the prosecutor looking into Hunter Biden’s corruption fired. This is Joe Biden’s quote:
“I remember going over (to Ukraine), convincing our team … that we should be providing for loan guarantees. … And I was supposed to announce that there was another billion-dollar loan guarantee. And I had gotten a commitment from (then Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko) and from (then-Prime Minister Arseniy) Yatsenyuk that they would take action against the state prosecutor (Shokin). And they didn’t. …“They were walking out to a press conference. I said, nah, … we’re not going to give you the billion dollars. They said, ‘You have no authority. You’re not the president.’ … I said, call him. I said, I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars. I said, you’re not getting the billion. … I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.’ Well, son of a bitch. He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.”
This is Schiff’s letter to Atkiknson earlier in the month demanding to see the complaint.
Chairman Schiff’s office has released the first letter IC IG Atkinson sent them about the whistleblower complaint, dated September 9th. pic.twitter.com/zY0mIZJRji— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) September 19, 2019
Things got a lot hotter today when Atkinson refused to confirm or deny any part of the story. What is clear from the letter Atkinson sent to Schiff on September 17, is that the Department of Justice and the Director of National Intelligence are directing him to not talk to Schiff and that he’s not happy about it.
Schiff, being the needle…ummm…pencil neck that he is threatened legal action.