The declassified whistleblower complaint centered on a July 25 conversation between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky released Thursday revealed concerns from White House officials about how the phone call transcript was handled.
Multiple U.S. officials told the whistleblower “senior White House officials had intervened to ‘lock down’ all records of the phone call, especially the word-for-word transcript of the call that was produced — as is customary — by the White House Situation Room,” the whistleblower wrote.
And, the whistleblower said, officials told him this wasn’t the first time the White House had locked down a transcript for politically sensitive, rather than national security, reasons.
“White House officials told me that they were ‘directed’ by White House lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored for coordination, finalization, and distribution to Cabinet-level officials. Instead, the transcript was loaded into a separate electronic system that is otherwise used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature,” the whistleblower wrote. “One White House official described this act as an abuse of this electronic system because the call did not contain anything remotely sensitive from a national security perspective.”
“This set of actions underscored to me that White House officials understood the gravity of what had transpired in the call,” the whistleblower wrote.
A classified appendix to the complaint stated multiple White House officials told the whistleblower that the transcript was placed into a computer system managed directly by the National Security Council Directorate for Intelligence Programs, describing it as a stand-alone computer system reserved for code-word level intelligence information, such as that related to covert actions.
“According to information I received from White House officials, some officials voiced concerns internally that this would be an abuse of the system and was not consistent with the responsibilities of the Directorate for Intelligence Programs,” the whistleblower wrote. “According to White House officials I spoke with this was ‘not the first time’ under this administration that a presidential transcript was placed into this codeword-level system solely for the purpose of protecting politically sensitive — rather than national security sensitive — information.”
The transcript of the Trump-Zelensky call, released Wednesday, showed Trump asked for Ukraine’s help in investigating whether there was any Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 election and about a matter related to Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Trump urged Zelensky to speak with his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr, although the Justice Department denies Trump ever spoke to Barr about it.
The whistleblower, who was not a “direct witness” to the phone call, said multiple White House officials said Trump used the call to “advance his personal interests” and to “pressure the Ukrainian leader to take actions to help the President’s 2020 reelection bid.”
The whistleblower, whose identity is still unknown, provided a nine-page complaint to Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, who determined that the complaint was of an “urgent concern” and “appeared credible.” Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire consulted with the Justice Department and determined the complaint fell outside the statutory requirements that would compel him to hand it over the the congressional intelligence communities.
The whistleblower’s complaint was declassified late Wednesday and was released to the public on Thursday just before Maguire testified in front of the House Intelligence Committee.
Attorneys for the whistleblowers revealed that the whistleblower has tentatively agreed to meet with intelligence committee leaders on Thursday afternoon.
