A former CIA analyst and National Security Council official warned President Trump may be trying to root out the Ukraine whistleblower.
Ned Price, who was a press spokesman during the Obama administration and quit the CIA in 2017 so he wouldn’t have to serve under the Trump administration, described this as being a possible worst-case scenario down the road from a restructuring of the intelligence community and removal of inspectors general.
“This would be a huge red line,” Price told Greg Sargent for his Plum Line blog at the Washington Post, adding that it would indicate the president “feels no limits whatsoever.”
Late last week, Trump notified Congress that he was removing Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community inspector general who told Congress about the whistleblower complaint that sparked an impeachment investigation. The president, who repeatedly expressed frustration with Atkinson’s conduct during the proceedings, 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.
The whistleblower, believed to be a career CIA analyst who was Ukraine director on the National Security Council during the end of the Obama administration and the early months of the Trump administration, was on Trump’s mind as he talked about firing Atkinson, whom he said had lost his confidence, during a coronavirus task force briefing over the weekend.
“You know who the whistleblower is, and so do you, and so does everybody in the room, and so do I — everybody knows,” Trump said. “But they give this whistleblower status that he doesn’t deserve. He’s a fake whistleblower, and, frankly, somebody ought to sue his ass off.”
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff accused Trump of undermining “critical intelligence functions” by not consulting and seeking authorization with Congress for organizational changes within the intelligence community. In a letter sent to acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell on Tuesday, the California Democrat raised concerns that his office is being politicized on behalf of Trump and demanded information about whether Grenell ever prohibited Atkinson from carrying out any inspections.
“There’s so much in this letter that should concern all Americans: An unqualified (and unconfirmed) interim official seeking to reshape the Intelligence Community, politicized intelligence, potentially quashed IG investigations, possible retaliation against career officials, etc.,” Price said in a tweet.
“When a President takes on Inspectors General — those committed to ferreting out waste, fraud, and abuse — that’s about as good an indication as any that the highest levels of government have an interest in seeing that fraud and abuse continue,” he added in another.
Trump also abruptly removed Glenn Fine, the acting Pentagon watchdog, on Tuesday, blocking him from overseeing the implementation of a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package.
Grenell shot back at Schiff, tweeting that the congressman’s letter was sent to the press before he received it. “These press leaks politicizing the intelligence community must stop,” he said.
Since taking on the role of acting spy chief in February, Grenell has embarked on an effort to end what he views as redundant efforts carried out by the ODNI, aiming to shift some power back to the other spy agencies, and his office has denied the review is an “effort to purge.”
But if Grenell fails to meet Schiff’s mid-April deadline for answers, Price said his silence “would be incredibly telling.” Price told the Washington Post this, and a refusal to pledge to defend employees would signal there being “campaign of retaliation.”
