The deep state “whistleblower” who accused President Trump of offering a corrupt “quid pro quo” to the president of Ukraine, reportedly contacted a Democratic staffer on the House Intelligence Committee—in violation of federal whistleblower protection laws—before filing an official complaint with the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (ICIG).
According to the Federalist’s Sean Davis, the contact amounted to “collusion” between the intel operative and House Democrats.
https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1179479261880737793?s=20
“Before going to Congress, the C.I.A. officer had a colleague convey his accusations to the agency’s top lawyer,” the New York Times reported Wednesday. “Concerned about how that avenue for airing his allegations was unfolding, the officer then approached a House Intelligence Committee aide, alerting him to the accusation against Mr. Trump.”
The House Intelligence aide allegedly advised the whistleblower to file a formal complaint, which was subsequently blocked by acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, who did not agree that the claim was an “urgent concern.”
According to his spokesman Patrick Boland, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) never saw the full complaint nor the specifics of the allegations before it was released by the Trump administration.
“The whistle-blower’s decision to offer what amounted to an early warning to the intelligence committee’s Democrats is also sure to thrust Mr. Schiff even more forcefully into the center of the controversy,” the Times opined.
Indeed, the anti-Trump complainant’s decision to notify only the committee’s Democrats of his allegations, and bypass the Republican-run Senate Intelligence Committee entirely, could be described as “controversial.”
There are procedures for IC employees to contact Congress and still be protected, but they are required to first formally communicate with the ICIG, according to the federal IC whistleblower law, known as the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act, or ICWPA.
“The bombshell report that the whistleblower and his Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) colleagues actively worked exclusively with congressional Democrats before filing the complaint raises serious questions about whether the complainant followed federal laws providing whistleblower protections for employees within the U.S. intelligence community,” wrote former House Republican staffer Sean Davis at the Federalist.
Under federal law, whistleblowers within the intelligence community are required to report any allegations of wrongdoing to the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) in order to receive statutory whistleblower protections for their disclosures. The law does not provide any protections to employees or contractors who bypass the process required by law and go directly to Congress, nor does it provide any avenue to disclose classified information to Congress without first going through the ICIG. If the complainant or a colleague leaked classified information to Schiff or his committee, those individuals could be subject to criminal liability for illegal and unauthorized disclosure of classified information.
“Like other whistle-blowers have done before and since under Republican and Democratic-controlled committees, the whistle-blower contacted the committee for guidance on how to report possible wrongdoing within the jurisdiction of the intelligence community,” said Boland told the Times.
The intelligence community’s inspector general also bypassed the Senate Intelligence Committee in favor of the hyper-partisan House Intel Committee, Julie Kelly noted at American Greatness earlier this week. After the intel operative’s complaint was filed, Michael Atkinson, the ICIG sent two letters to the House Intelligence committee instead of its Senate counterpart.
During his January 2018 public testimony to the Senate Intelligence committee prior to his confirmation, Atkinson said if there was a dispute with the Director of National Intelligence about the veracity of a claim, he would “talk to this Committee if that situation arose to that level, to keep you informed about those events.”
But Atkinson instead notified the highly-partisan House Intelligence committee led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the same lawmaker who has lied to the American people for three years about evidence of Russian collusion. In a letter dated September 9 addressed to Schiff and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), Atkinson alerted the committee that the acting Director of National Intelligence did not agree with Atkinson’s judgment that the claim was an “urgent concern.” (An assessment somewhat laughable now that the call’s transcript is public.)
The new revelations suggest that Schiff and his staff not only coordinated with the anti-Trump complainant and his colleagues prior to a formal whistleblower complaint, but were also less than truthful about their interactions with the complainant.
Nearly two weeks before the ICIG formally informed Congress of a pending “urgent concern” whistleblower complaint, Schiff tweeted allegations from the complaint without disclosing their source, Davis noted at the Federalist.
Trump is withholding vital military aid to Ukraine, while his personal lawyer seeks help from the Ukraine government to investigate his political opponent.
It doesn’t take a stable genius to see the magnitude of this conflict.
Or how destructive it is to our national security. https://t.co/X4yhTS2q1Z
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) August 29, 2019
“Schiff was in on it and he lied about it,” a congressional GOP staffer told The Federalist.
“This is a much bigger scandal that people realize,” opined Fred Fleitz, President and CEO of the Center for Security Policy, and former government official who was under consideration by the Trump administration as the next Director of National Intelligence. “At minimum, Schiff should recuse himself from this impeachment inquiry,” Fleitz added.
1/ The NYT confirmed what I said last week: Schiff knew about the CIA whistleblower in advance — way in advance. Before he even filed his complaint. This is a much bigger scandal that people realize. At a minimum, Schiff should recuse himself from this impeachment inquiry.
— Fred Fleitz (@FredFleitz) October 2, 2019
4/ Supposedly the @HouseIntelComm dem counsel told the CIA whistleblower to hire counsel and go through the ICIG process. That would be believable if Schiff and his staff revealed this weeks ago. @Susan_Hennessey and @MiekeEoyang : don't be fooled by this.
— Fred Fleitz (@FredFleitz) October 2, 2019
5/ Schiff talked about the Ukraine issue throughout the month of August. The contents of the complaint leaked before it was presented to Congress. There is zero chance in mind mine that Schiff's HPSCI lawyers were not working hand and glove with the WB and his lawyers.
— Fred Fleitz (@FredFleitz) October 2, 2019
6/ And here's the kicker (@Susan_Hennessey &@MiekeEoyang pay attention): under @HouseIntelComm rules, any classified info brought to the committee from outside sources MUST BE SHARED WITH BOTH SIDES. Schiff broke committee rules by not telling committee GOP members about this.
— Fred Fleitz (@FredFleitz) October 2, 2019
7/ This is a very serious violation of @HouseIntelComm rules. Why did Schiff do this, especially when he was using this information to score political points throughout the month of August? The reason is clear: it was part of the latest Dem ploy to take down @realDonaldTrump
— Fred Fleitz (@FredFleitz) October 2, 2019
8/ It never made any sense to discuss impeachment or a non-intelligence matter like the Ukraine allegations in @HouseIntelComm . Given Schiff's politicization of this issue and serious violations of HPSCI rules, the impeachment charade must end.
— Fred Fleitz (@FredFleitz) October 2, 2019