We still don’t know who the whistleblower is, but the report makes it clear that s/he knows what s/he’s doing. The report cites specific statutes and makes a professionally argued case that’s well-organized and anticipates counterarguments and critiques. It even has footnotes!
Initial Thoughts On The Whistleblower Complaint: Was There A Coverup?
We’ve been doing a speed read of the declassified version of the whistleblower complaint released this morning, and one new question bubbling up is whether the White House took steps to cover up the president’s actions on a phone call with the president of Ukraine. Yesterday, a memo summarizing the call was released by the White House because, the administration said, there was no recording of the call and thus no word-for-word transcript. But this morning’s complaint makes it clear that “senior White House Officials had intervened to ‘lock down’ all records of the phone call, especially the official word-for-word transcript of the call that was produced — as is customary — by the White House Situation Room.”
The White House, the memo explains, was aware that the president’s phone call was troubling and inappropriate. White House officials also told the inspector general that they were directed by White House lawyers to remove the transcripts from the computer system that is normally used to store such calls and to put them in system meant for especially sensitive classified information. It was, the officials said, an abuse of the system.
First, up — some detail about what in the whistleblower complaint really stands out.
Welcome
Today, acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire will testify before the House Intelligence Committee on a whistleblower complaint that alleged that President Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his younger son Hunter Biden.
We now have the unclassified whistleblower complaint, and we expect lawmakers to question Maguire today about what’s in the document, in addition to the connection between Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelenksy and his decision to suspend nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine ahead of that call.
This is the latest in a fast-moving and still-developing story, and there’s still a lot we don’t know. Today’s hearing could be the first of many, too, as the whistleblower is also expected to testify before Congress. There are a lot of moving parts, but we’ll be playing close attention to what new information emerges and how this changes the momentum around Democrats’ push to open an official impeachment inquiry of the president.
Depending on how the hearing unfolds, the chatter here may increase or die down a bit if there’s a break. But hang out with us through it all — at the very least, it’ll be interesting. Also, if you have any questions — about Maguire’s testimony, about how all this might affect 2020 or about politics more generally — shoot us a note at @538politics and we’ll answer here. Thanks for joining us!