The Intelligence Community Inspector General (IC IG) has agreed to appear before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday for a briefing on the handling of a whistleblower complaint said to involve President Trump and a “promise” made to a foreign leader.
The committee gave acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire a deadline to forward the complaint to the panel, but he told committee leaders that the complaint involving the executive branch “does not meet the definition of ‘urgent concern’ because it does not relate to ‘intelligence activity.’ ”
Maguire did not plan to appear at a scheduled hearing Thursday; Intel Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said today that the acting DNI now “has agreed to testify in open session before the Committee next Thursday, September 26 at 9:00 am.”
“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,” Schiff said. “The Committee places the highest importance on the protection of whistleblowers and their complaints to Congress.”
The Washington Post reported this evening that complaint, filed with Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson on Aug. 12, involves Trump’s communications with a foreign leader that an intelligence official found troubling. Atkinson deemed the complaint a matter of “urgent concern,” requiring that congressional oversight committees be notified.
The White House reported that Trump had interactions with five foreign leaders in the five weeks preceding the complaint: Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and Qatar emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
