House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff threatened on Thursday to sue the Trump administration for withholding details of a complaint by a whistleblower in the intelligence community that reportedly involves President Trump’s communications with a foreign leader.
Trump is said to have made a certain commitment to the leader, which the whistleblower proceeded to report to the intelligence community’s inspector general, Michael Atkinson. During a classified meeting with lawmakers Thursday, Atkinson confirmed that the complaint referred to multiple actions but declined to comment on any connection to the President, according to reports.
Atkinson initially deemed the complaint credible and investigated it. But acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire has refused to share the complaint with the Intelligence Committee, as Schiff has argued the law requires. After the Committee’s Thursday meeting with Atkinson, Schiff, who has said that no national intelligence director has ever refused to turn such a complaint over to Congress, threatened to use all means at his disposal to force Maguire to cooperate, including legal action if necessary.
“We’re determined to do everything we can to determine what this urgent concern is, to make sure that the national security is protected and to make sure that this whistle-blower is protected,” Schiff told reporters after the meeting.
On Twitter, Trump dismissed the reports about the complaint.
….Knowing all of this, is anybody dumb enough to believe that I would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader while on such a potentially “heavily populated” call. I would only do what is right anyway, and only do good for the USA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2019