Adam Schiff says the interim leader cited "a higher authority" in his refusal to report a complaint to a whistleblower

Congressman Adam Schiff said Sunday that the official who sits at the top of the intelligence community is reject an assignment hand in a whistleblower complaint to protect an even higher-ranking official, possibly a senior administration official or even President Trump.

"According to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the reason he does not provide it, even if the law requires it, is because it is him." enjoined not to do so.It was a senior authority, someone from the DNI "Schiff, who is chairman of the House's intelligence commission, said in a statement. Interview with CBS News' Face the Nation.

Schiff Friday issued a subpoena to Joseph Maguire, the acting DNI, alleging that he illegally withheld the whistle from the committee's whistleblower. A letter accompanying the subpoena stating that Maguire's office had "wrongly" invoked the "confidential and potentially privileged communications" of the complaint to justify his refusal.

"The Committee can only conclude, on the basis of this remarkable convergence of factors, that the serious misconduct in question involves the President of the United States and / or other senior officials of the White House or the United States. the administration, "writes Schiff in his letter. Although he stated that he could not disclose the content of the complaint, the fact that the DNI cited "privileged communications" means that this would involve a "fairly small group of people".

"So, I think it's fair to assume that this involves either the president, or his entourage, or both," Schiff said.

In addition, the complaint was deemed "credible" by the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (IC IG). Friday, more than ten days had passed since Maguire had to submit the complaint.

"In the end, if the director of national intelligence services will undermine the protectors of the whistleblowers," said Schiff. "This means that people will end up getting justice and go directly to the press, instead of the mechanism put in place by Congress to protect classified information."

This, he said, would threaten US national security and the whistleblowing system "which encourages people to report wrongdoing".

"No DNI – no director of national intelligence services – has ever refused to respond to a whistleblower complaint," Schiff added.

The IG, he pointed out, "did a preliminary investigation, found that the whistleblower was credible, which suggests corroboration. And that it's acting serious or egregious wrongdoing ".

Schiff said it is concerned that the complaint "involves wrongful acts that are the subject of an investigation by our committee". He added that the committee would do "everything necessary" to ensure that whistleblowers who do not have the right to file their complaint before the committee "can go directly to the Congress". However, according to Schiff, the director "banned" him too.

Schiff said in a statement that more than 10 days had passed since Maguire had been forced to hand over the complaint, which had been deemed "credible" by the inspector general of the intelligence community.

Trump appointed Maguire, a retired Vice Admiral who served as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, acting acting IDU last month DNI Dan Coats and First substitute DNI, Sue Gordon offered their resignations.

Gordon, a career manager who would have legally assumed the acting role, attached a note to his letter of resignation stating that she was not leaving by choice. "You should have your team," she wrote to the president.

Reportage by Olivia Gazis.