President Trump’s acting spy chief defied a subpoena from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff to hand over a whistleblower’s complaint, which was deemed by a government watchdog to be “credible and urgent.”
A letter sent to the California Democrat said the complaint, which had been submitted to the Intelligence Community inspector general, involves someone “outside the intelligence community” and does not relate to intelligence activity under acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire’s supervision.
“The complaint here involves confidential and potentially privileged matters relating to the interests of other stake holders within the Executive Branch,” said the letter from Jason Klitenic, the general counsel for Maguire.
Schiff abruptly announced the subpoena late Friday and demanded Maguire testify on Thursday if he missed the deadline for whistleblower material on Tuesday. The chairman said he still expects Maguire to show in two days, even if it means being compelled by subpoena.
“The Committee’s position is clear – the acting DNI can either provide the complaint as required under the law, or he will be required to come before the committee to tell the public why he is not following the clear letter of the law, including whether the White House or the attorney general are directing him to do so,” Schiff said, according to Politico.
“He has yet to provide the complaint in response to the committee’s subpoena, so I expect him to appear on Thursday, under subpoena if necessary,” Schiff added.
In his letter, Klitenic said it would be “premature” for Maguire to appear at a congressional hearing on Thursday.
The original complaint was submitted on August 12, according to the New York Times, four days after Trump picked Maguire, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, to be acting director of national intelligence with the departure of Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and his deputy Sue Gordon.
Schiff said the Intelligence Community inspector general sent a letter to the Intelligence Committee on Sept. 9 to notify them of the complaint that it determined to be credible and of “urgent concern.” The next day, Schiff said he requested the full and unredacted whistleblower complaint, the IC inspector general’s determination related to the complaint, and all records pertaining to the ODNI’s involvement in this matter, “including any and all correspondence with other Executive Branch actors including the White House.”
The committee got a response on Friday in which the ODNI declined the chairman’s request. According to Schiff, the ODNI said it was withholding the complaint, in part, because “it involves confidentially and potentially privileged communications by persons outside the Intelligence Community.”
This prompted Schiff to issue the subpoena, citing an “unambiguous” statute that the ODNI is supposed to share the complaint and the inspector general’s analysis to the intelligence committees within a matter of days.
In interviews discussing his subpoena, Schiff has alluded to the possibility of a high-level cover-up that could go all the way to Trump. He told CBS News on Sunday that this “involved a higher authority, someone above the DNI.”
Much remains a mystery surrounding the complaint. Schiff acknowledged to CNN on Monday that he did not know the identity of the whistleblower and declined to get into “particulars” regarding any legal representation that might have reached out to the committee.
Klitenic pledged the whistleblower will be protected. “We will not permit the complainant to be subject to any retaliation or adverse consequence based upon his or her communication the complaint to the” inspector general, he wrote Tuesday.
Schiff recently shared a phone call with Maguire to discuss the situation, describing it as “not very encouraging.”
“I asked the director, ‘Does this involve something that our committee is investigating?’ And initially, the answer was, ‘No.’ And then his legal counsel had to correct him and say, ‘Actually, we can’t say that,'” Schiff told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Monday.
According to Schiff, this provided a “strong implication” that the whistleblower’s complaint was relevant to one of his committee’s investigations.
