The whistleblower complaint at the center of a fight between House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and the nation’s acting spy chief relates to a phone call President Trump had with a foreign leader.
An unnamed official within the Intelligence Community notified the inspector general for the group of 17 intelligence agencies that this discussion involved a “promise,” according to former officials who spoke with the Washington Post.
Specifics of the conversation have not come to light, but the complaint was deemed “credible and urgent” by Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson. He alerted Schiff of the complaint earlier this month, who since then has doggedly pursued information about the complaint.
Earlier in the evening, the California Democrat announced that Atkinson agreed to testify before the House Intelligence Committee in a briefing about the complaint Thursday morning in a closed session.
Schiff also revealed acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, who resisted a subpoena to hand over the complaint, agreed to testify in an open setting next Thursday on Sept. 26.
“The IC IG determined that this complaint is both credible and urgent, and that it should be transmitted to Congress under the clear letter of the law. The Committee places the highest importance on the protection of whistleblowers and their complaints to Congress,” Schiff said.
Schiff argues that an “unambiguous” statute requires Maguire to share the complaint and the inspector general’s analysis to the intelligence committees within seven days.
But in a letter sent to Schiff on Tuesday, the Office of Director of National Intelligence, which had consulted with the Justice Department, said the complaint “involves confidential and potentially privileged matters relating to the interests of other stake holders within the Executive Branch.” And because it involved an individual outside of the Intelligence Community, ODNI general counsel Jason Klitenic, claimed the complaint goes beyond Maguire’s jurisdiction.
The complaint was submitted on Aug. 12, which was a day Trump was at his golf club in New Jersey. The president had interactions with at least five foreign leaders since the beginning of July, according to White House records.
Trump picked Maguire, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, to be acting director of national intelligence just four days prior with the departure of Dan Coats and his deputy Sue Gordon.
In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Monday, Schiff said Maguire gave him a “strong implication” during a phone call that the whistleblower’s complaint was relevant to one of his committee’s investigations.
