Donald Trump (Image: YouTube)
The Trump administration plans to release to Congress both the whistleblower complaint and the inspector general report about the complaint later this week.
An official told Fox News about President Donald Trump‘s to release the inspector general report which found that the whistleblower had a “political bias” in favor of “a rival candidate” of the president. A different senior administration official said that the White House is also working to release the whistleblower complaint over a conversation between Trump and the Ukrainian president.
The complaint, made by a member of the U.S. intelligence community, is the center of the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry. Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson initially deemed it as “credible” and related to an “urgent” matter.
The Director of National Intelligence general counsel Jason Klitenic later said the matter did not meet the legal definition of an “urgent concern,” and because it concerned a person outside of the intelligence community, the DNI was not legally obligated to turn it over to Congress.
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A source familiar with the complaint said the whistleblower had no “firsthand knowledge” of the phone conversation between Trump and the Ukrainian president.
The move to release the complaint signifies a large strategy shift by the Trump administration, after Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s (D-California) announcement of an official impeachment inquiry. The acting DNI had previously tried to block Congress from receiving the whistleblower complaint.
Although he has denounced the impeachment inquiry as a “Witch Hunt” on Twitter, Trump’s seeming cooperation and sudden transparency began right after Pelosi’s announcement.
Wednesday morning, Trump released the White House transcription of his phone conversation with the leader of Ukraine, however the version was not a verbatim account.
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-California) tweeted that the whistleblower would like to testify to the committee.
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“We’re in touch with counsel and look forward to the whistleblower’s testimony as soon as this week,” Schiff wrote.
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