Donald Trump is in a standoff with leaders of the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives over a whistle-blower complaint from within the intelligence community.
The whistle-blower's complaint, which has not yet been turned over to Congress, involved communications with a foreign leader and a “promise” made by Trump, with the whistle-blower's allegations centering on Ukraine.
Michael Atkinson, inspector general for the U.S. Intelligence Community, is tasked with determining if a complaint is credible and involves an urgent concern. If it meets these requirements, Atkinson is required to pass it along to the acting director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire, who in turn “shall” forward it within seven days to the congressional intelligence committees.
Atkinson has said in a letter to congressional leaders there were reasonable grounds to think the Aug. 12 whistle-blower complaint was credible and involved an urgent concern, and forwarded it to Maguire. After consulting with lawyers from Trump's Justice Department, Maguire blocked the complaint from being forwarded to Congress, effectively overriding Atkinson.
Dan Meyer, a former head of the intelligence community whistle-blowing program, said Maguire’s decision to withhold the whistle-blower's complaint from Congress was unprecedented.
“This has never happened before,” said Meyer, a managing partner at the law firm Tully Rinckey.
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