The detailed format and careful drafting of the whistleblower complaint on President Trump’s Ukraine call suggests a coordinated effort to “weaponize” the intelligence community against him, current and former administration officials charge.
The complaint, released on Thursday morning, came after the launch of an “impeachment inquiry” by House Democrats. It claimed the president used his office to seek help from Ukraine in the 2020 election by asking for an investigation into Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and that White House officials then tried to “lock down” records of the July telephone call.
In the hours after the nine-page document was released, allies of the president went on the attack, dismissing the allegations as part of an orchestrated plot.
“This is really weaponizing the whistleblower effort in a way that is unprecedented,” said a senior administration official. “And I would be very surprised if it does not come out that this person had talked to Congress before they drafted it.”
He said the complaint went further than merely flagging concerns about Trump’s conduct. Instead it resembled the result of an in-depth investigation, complete with footnotes and references, that cited multiple sources as if it had been drafted with the help of the House Intelligence Committee.
Fred Fleitz, a former CIA analyst who served as chief of staff to the national security adviser last year, said the whistleblower did not act alone.
“The way this complaint was written suggested the author had a lot of help. I know from my work on the House Intel Committee staff that many whistleblowers go directly to the intel oversight committees,” he wrote. “Did this whistleblower first meet with House Intel Committee members?”
It has been reported that the whistleblower was a CIA officer who worked on temporary assignment at the White House. Three security officials said a junior officer on rotation was likely the source.
“The situation room is mostly staffed by CIA,” said a source familiar with its operation.
Without evidence, Trump has accused the FBI of planting a spy in his campaign and tried to undermine investigations into alleged ties with Moscow by dismissing them as part of witch hunt by the “deep state.”
Trump expressed his fury to donors at a fundraising event in New York on the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly.
“I want to know who’s the person, who’s the person who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that’s close to a spy,” he said, according to a recording obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
Loyalists said the result was unlikely to prove a tipping point for the impeachment effort.
“It looks like an intelligence community official participating in an effort to ‘get’ the president,” said a senior administration official.
The White House tried to dismiss the complaint as nothing new. Stephanie Grisham, the president’s press secretary, said, “Nothing has changed with the release of this complaint, which is nothing more than a collection of third-hand accounts of events and cobbled-together press clippings — all of which shows nothing improper.”
The intelligence committee did not respond to requests for comment.
