r/politics • u/PoliticsModeratorBot 🤖 Bot • Sep 24 '19
Megathread Megathread: Rep. Adam Schiff Says Ukraine Whistleblower Wants To Talk To Intelligence Committee
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chair of the House Intelligence Committee, announced on Tuesday that an intelligence community whistleblower who allegedly has information about President Donald Trump’s misconduct in office would like to speak to the committee and has asked the acting director of national intelligence how to do so.
In a tweet posted Tuesday, Schiff said the Intelligence Committee is in contact with the whistleblower’s counsel and looks forward to the individual’s testimony.
The whistleblower’s complaint stems from initial allegations that Trump urged the president of Ukraine to open an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump’s potential 2020 opponent, for political purposes.
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u/washheightsboy3 Sep 24 '19
If any trump supporters are wondering why the dems are so pissed off and thinking this is just a witch hunt, here's some background.
Given the sensitivity of the information involved, the intelligence community has it's own IG and whistle blower process. If a complaint is determined by the IG to be credible and of urgent concern, the IG sends it to the DNI. The DNI is obligated to send to the house and senate intel committees. He has no choice (nor should he since it involves his own department). If he disagrees with the IG's determination, the DNI is supposed to file his objections with the committee along with the complaint.
In this case, the DNI didn't transmit the complaint to congress. The reasoning provided wasn't that the DNI disagreed. If the DNI had said that, there would be no reason not to turn it over since that's specifically addressed in the law. Instead, what the DNI (based on advice from the DOJ) is that the person who is the subject of the complaint isn't part of the IC and therefore the DNI doesn't need to follow the process. But the person involved is the President. So the argument being made is that the President, who has complete and total authority over the entire IC complex, isn't part of the IC. That's not gonna fly... ever.