Intelligence Official Filed Whistleblower Complaint After Trump Made ‘Troubling Promise’ To Foreign Leader

The controversy surrounding President Donald Trump and an alleged whistleblower continues to deepen, as it was reported Wednesday that Trump’s communications with a foreign leader led to a complaint.

According to The Washington Post, a whistleblower’s “credible and urgent” complaint directly implicates Trump. This has prompted concerns over the potential reasons why acting National Intelligence Director Joseph Maguire refused this week to comply with a congressional committee’s order to turn over the complaint. Maguire instead referred the issue to the Justice Department. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he would subpoena Maguire to testify should he continue to refuse to cooperate with the panel’s order. Maguire is now set to appear before the panel on September 26.

The Post reported that one American intelligence official was so concerned by a “promise” Trump made to an unnamed foreign leader that the official filed a formal whistleblower complaint with the intelligence community’s inspector general, Michael Atkinson. No details about the promise are yet known, as the official refused to release its contents.

The complaint was filed on August 12. White House documentation reveals Trump had spoken to five foreign leaders during the five weeks leading up to that date: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Emir of Qatar.

Many intelligence officials fear the foreign leader Trump promised confidential information may be Kim or Putin. The president holds close relationships with both authoritarian heads of state and has met with both Putin and Kim privately multiple times.

Trump also lashed out at the media yet again over the reports concerning his alleged promise to a foreign leader, calling the story “fake news:”

Phil Mudd, a CNN analyst who previously served as both a CIA and FBI official, said Wednesday on the network that senior intelligence officials should never be expected to reveal confidential information about a U.S. president’s communications with Congress. Mudd added he does not believe American spy agencies are under any obligation to supervise Trump.

“Can you explain to me a) why it is the US intelligence community’s responsibility to listen to the President of the United States speaking to a foreign leader and b) why it is the US intelligence community, under the rules provided by the Democrats in Congress, (who) are responsible to report to the Congress what the President of the United States says?” Mudd asked on CNN.

“We are not responsible for reporting to the Congress what the President says. He can say what he wants.”

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-California), who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, voiced her outrage about Trump’s alleged “promise” to a foreign leader in an interview on CNN this week:

 

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