The intelligence community inspector general fired by President Trump said he believes his ousting was rooted in his doing his job appropriately, including his handling of the Ukraine whistleblower report.
Michael Atkinson addressed the president’s decision to fire him last week in a Sunday letter, writing that Trump’s loss of confidence in him likely “derives from my having faithfully discharged my legal obligations as an independent and impartial Inspector General, and from my commitment to continue to do so.”
He continued, “As an Inspector General, I was legally obligated to ensure that whistleblowers had an effective and authorized means to disclose urgent matters involving classified information to the congressional intelligence committees, and that when they did blow the whistle in an authorized manner, their identities would be protected as a guard against reprisals.”
Atkinson said it had been an “honor” to serve the American public and encouraged future whistleblowers not to be afraid to speak out.
“They are counting on you to use authorized channels to bravely speak up — there is no disgrace in doing so,” he said. “Please do not allow recent events to silence your voices.”
During a White House press briefing Saturday, Trump harshly criticized the watchdog.
“I thought he did a terrible job — absolutely terrible. He took a whistleblower report, which turned out to be a fake report. It was fake. It was totally wrong,” Trump said. “It was about my conversation with the president of Ukraine. He took a fake report, and he brought it to Congress with an emergency, OK? Not a big Trump fan, that I can tell you.”
Atkinson insisted Sunday evening that “I have spent my seventeen-year career as a public servant acting without regard to partisan favor or political fear.”
Trump said Saturday that Atkinson “never even came in to see me … never requested to see me. He took this terrible, inaccurate whistleblower report, right? And he brought it to Congress.”
Last year, Atkinson determined a whistleblower complaint from a CIA analyst about a phone call Trump had with Ukraine’s president related to a CrowdStrike conspiracy theory and an effort to have Ukraine investigate former Vice President Joe Biden to be “urgent” and “credible.” He forwarded the complaint to then-acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, who did not give Atkinson permission to share it with Congress after seeking guidance from the White House and Justice Department but did allow him to notify them of its existence.
The president was impeached by the House in December on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. He was acquitted on both articles of impeachment by the Senate following a trial in February.
“That man is a disgrace to IGs,” Trump said Saturday of Atkinson. “He’s a total disgrace.”
Atkinson addressed what he referred to as “the Ukraine whistleblower matter” in his letter.
“I am grateful to the many individuals who spoke publicly in support of the ICIG’s actions in administering the whistleblower’s disclosure,” he said. “Sixty-seven Inspectors General throughout the federal government warned of the potential harm that can result from second-guessing determinations made by independent Inspectors General responding to whistleblower disclosures.”
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel reviewed the whistleblower complaint in the fall and concluded that it was not an “urgent concern” under the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act of 1998 because it wasn’t related to “the funding, administration, or operation of an intelligence activity” under the authority of the director of national intelligence.
Atkinson disagreed, as did dozens of other inspectors general, who signed a letter to the Justice Department supporting his determination and urging the agency to reconsider.
“We agree with the ICIG that the OLC opinion creates a chilling effect on effective oversight and is wrong as a matter of law and policy,” they wrote. “We also share the ICIG’s concern that the OLC opinion could seriously impair whistleblowing and deter individuals in the intelligence community and throughout the government from reporting government waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct.”
Congress was notified by the White House on Friday evening that Atkinson was being removed because of a lack of confidence in his ability to perform his duties. The move was met with backlash from Democrats in Congress, and DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz vowed that “aggressive, independent oversight” will persist within the intelligence community.
Trump selected National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency general counsel Thomas Monheim to be the acting intelligence community inspector general the day after firing Atkinson.
