[ad_1]
Joseph Maguire, Acting Director of National Intelligence Donald Trump, seems to hide something. Congressman Adam Schiff wants to know what it is.
On September 13, Schiff, chairman of the House Special Committee on Intelligence, issued a subpoena asking Maguire, a former Vice-Admiral of the US Navy appointed by Trump in August, to file a whistle-blower complaint. last month by an unidentified member of the American Intelligence Community (IC). The Inspector General (IG) of the intelligence community recently drew Schiff's attention to the existence of this complaint, which told Congress that this issue was "an urgent concern".
Schiff, a California Democrat, says Maguire has unreasonably withheld the complaint, which, according to Schiff, involves "potentially privileged communications from people outside the intelligence community." In a letter accompanying the subpoena (pdf), Schiff states that he has learned that "the underlying conduct is an active area of research for the committee. "
According to Schiff, this raises "serious concerns that your office, together with the Department of Justice and possibly the White House, is illegally working to protect the President and to conceal from the Committee information about its possible" serious or egregious ". "Misconduct, abuse of authority or violation of the law".
In a statement issued yesterday, Schiff wrote:
A national intelligence director has never prevented a properly filed whistleblowing complaint that the IG IC has found credible and urgent to forward to congressional intelligence committees. Never. This raises serious concerns as to whether the White House, the Department of Justice or other executive officials are attempting to prevent a legitimate whistleblower complaint from reaching its intended recipient, the Congress , to cover serious mistakes.
In the letter to Maguire, Schiff says the committee does not know whether the decision to keep the congressional letter was made by Maguire or whether it "involved an interference from other parties, including the White House". Because of Trump's "unjust efforts … to influence your office and the intelligence community," Schiff fears that something very inappropriate is coming.
Maguire's excuse for withholding the whistleblower's complaint – that it contains confidential and potentially privileged communications – is a "radical misrepresentation" of the relevant law that "completely subverts the letter and spirit of the law," continues Schiff's letter, adding that the director of the National Intelligence services do not have the power to "revise, appeal, quash or quash" a decision of the GI IG. In this case, it was ICIG's directive to Maguire to forward the mysterious complaint to the whistleblower in Congress.
"The Committee can only conclude, on the basis of this remarkable convergence of factors, that the misconduct in question involves the President of the United States and / or other senior officials of the White House or the United States. administration, "concludes the letter.
Trump, for his part, used juvenile insults in the past to attack Schiff.
Maguire's office said it received Schiff's summons Friday.
"We received the HPSCI assignment tonight. We look at the request and respond appropriately, "a senior intelligence official told Politico. "The Interim ODNI and DNI, Maguire, are committed to fully respecting the law and upholding whistleblower protections, and have done so here."
[ad_2]
Source link