Tag: Trump whistleblower

Trump demands testimony from whistleblower

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Monday demanded that the anonymous whistleblower who raised an alarm about his contacts with Ukraine testify.

Trump said it was “not acceptable” for the whistleblower to answer written questions from Republican lawmakers in connection with the House impeachment inquiry, as his attorneys communicated was on the table on Sunday. And he claimed without evidence that the whistleblower gave “false information.”

The president also referenced revelations that the whistleblower contacted House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) committee for guidance before filing the complaint, calling the top Democrat “corrupt.”

View the complete November 4 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Trump inches closer to outing purported whistleblower

The president complained about the impeachment inquiry on the same day top Democrats vowed to release details from their closed-door proceedings

President Donald Trump on Sunday reiterated his calls to reveal the name of the whistleblower behind the complaint that led to the House’s formal impeachment inquiry, mentioning unconfirmed reports about the person’s identity and possible ties to the previous administration.

Trump sought to discredit the whistleblower, linking the individual to his Democratic predecessor, President Barack Obama, as well as former CIA director John Brennan and former national security adviser Susan Rice — two of Obama’s top aides.

“There have have been stories written about a certain individual, a male, and they say he’s the whistleblower,” Trump told reporters outside the White House. “If he’s the whistleblower, he has no credibility because he’s a Brennan guy, he’s a Susan Rice guy, he’s an Obama guy. And he hates Trump.”

View the complete November 3 article by Rishika Dugyala and Sarah Ferris on the Politico website here.

Trump’s Ukraine Call Was ‘Crazy’ and ‘Frightening,’ Official Told Whistle-Blower

New York Times logoThe whistle-blower wrote a memo describing an official who heard the call as “visibly shaken” by it.

WASHINGTON — A White House official who listened to President Trump’s July phone call with Ukraine’s leader described it as “crazy,” “frightening” and “completely lacking in substance related to national security,” according to a memo written by the whistle-blower at the center of the Ukraine scandal, a C.I.A. officer who spoke to the White House official.

The official was “visibly shaken by what had transpired,” the C.I.A. officer wrote in his memo, one day after Mr. Trump pressured President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in a July 25 phone call to open investigations that would benefit him politically.

A palpable sense of concern had already taken hold among at least some in the White House that the call had veered well outside the bounds of traditional diplomacy, the officer wrote.

View the compelte October 8 article by Nicholas Fandos on The New York Times website here.

 

Democrats to seek ways to compel release of Trump whistleblower complaint

The Hill logoHouse Democrats are sounding the alarm after an intelligence community watchdog testified behind closed doors Thursday about the handling of a whistleblower complaint that is said to relate to a conversation President Trump had with a foreign leader.

Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said the committee would consider a series of remedies to compel acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Joseph Maguire to share the complaint with Congress, which comes after Intelligence Community (IC) Inspector General Michael Atkinson said he found this whistleblower had brought forward a credible and “urgent concern.”

Schiff says the law requires Maguire to share the complaint with Congress no later than seven days after the director receives the allegations from the inspector general (IG).

View the complete September 19 article by Olivia Beavers on The Hill website here.