Tiny bits of new information continue to dribble out of Washington regarding the whistleblower complaint that President Trump made some kind of “promise” in what’s reported to have been a phone conversation with an unnamed foreign leader.
But the episode as a whole remains shrouded in mystery.
The existence of the whistleblower’s complaint, directed at the president, was first reported Wednesday night by the Washington Post, which said that Trump’s reported promise “was regarded as so troubling” that a U.S. intelligence official took the matter to the intelligence community’s inspector general.
The inspector general, Michael Atkinson, “determined that this complaint is both credible and urgent,” said a statement from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who chairs the House Intelligence Committee.
Atkinson testified Thursday at a closed-door meeting of the committee, but is said to have repeatedly declined to reveal details of the whistleblower complaint.
Atkinson “told lawmakers he was unable to confirm or deny anything about the substance of the complaint, including whether it involved the president,” says the New York Times, citing “people who spoke on condition of anonymity.”
After the hearing, Rep. Schiff spoke with reporters.
Acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire has likewise refused to answer lawmakers’ questions.
Schiff said Maguire “told him that he had been instructed not to give the complaint to Congress, and that the complaint addressed privileged information — meaning the president or people close to him were involved,” the Times says.
Both Maguire and Atkinson are expected to restify in public next week.
Asha Rangappa is an analyst for CNN.
“The complaint was filed with Atkinson’s office on Aug. 12, a date on which Trump was at his golf resort in New Jersey,” the Post says. “White House records indicate that Trump had had conversations or interactions with at least five foreign leaders in the preceding five weeks” — including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, in a call initiated by Trump.
That call was reported at the time on Twitter and Facebook by the Russian government, which said Trump “expressed concern over the vast wildfires” then burning in Siberia. The brief Russian statement said the two leaders also discussed trade issues.
The president also had communications or face-to-face conversations during the summer with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, the emir of Qatar and the prime ministers of Pakistan and the Netherlands. But Putin is the only one known to have spoken with Trump by telephone.
Trump insists he would never say anything “inappropriate” to a foreign leader, adding in a tweet that he “would only do what is right anyway, and only do good for the USA!”
Several outlets are reporting that it was the Department of Justice that advised the director of national intelligence not to share the whistleblower complaint.
CNN is taking it a step further by reporting it was the White House and the Justice Department who have been advising on the matter.
UPDATE: The New York Times reports this was multiple acts by Trump.
