Whistleblower : Trump Made National-Security-Compromising “Promise” to Foreign Leader

4 min readSep 19, 2019

Trump’s contact with a foreign leader is central to a whistleblower complaint filed five weeks ago which prompted a standoff between the Acting Director of National Intelligence and Congress. Trump’s communication with the foreign leader incorporated a “promise” that was viewed as so troubling that it triggered an official in the U.S. intelligence community to file a formal whistleblower complaint with the Intelligence Community Inspector General, Michael Atkinson, who determined that the complaint was credible and troubling enough to meet the definition of “urgent concern,” a legal threshold which requires notification of congressional oversight committees. [14]

Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire has refused to share details about Trump’s alleged transgression with lawmakers, sparking a legal and political clash that has fueled speculation that the DNI is inappropriately shielding the president.

Thursday, Inspector General Atkinson appeared before the House Intelligence Committee in a closed session. He refused to divulge any details of the whistleblower’s complaint on the grounds that he is not authorized to do so by the Director or Attorney General.

The White House and the Department of Justice acknowledged that they directed intelligence officials to withhold the complaint, stating that the contents are outside intelligence activities as covered by laws governing intelligence whistleblowers. [16]

Washington Post reporter Carol Leonig said on MSNBC Wednesday night that the White House has told her her that the President of the United States holds the ultimate classification authority and if he “promised” classified information to anyone, it is perfectly legal.

Former US Attorney Joyce Vance tweeted Wednesday night, “There are serious consequences for leaking this kind of information, which means someone in the intelligence community is worried enough by whatever allegedly happened to risk personal consequences.” [13]

Timeline:

· July 31st: Trump has phone call with Putin about “forest fires” [1]

· August 7th: Ambassador to Russia John Huntsman and top official on Russian affairs at the National Security Council Fiona Hill resign [2]

· August 8th: Dan Coates and Sue Gordon out at DNI [3]

· August 12th: Joseph Macguire in at DNI [4]

· August 12th: Whistleblower goes to ICIG [5]

· August 24th: Trump lobbies G7 to let Russia back in [6]

· August 28th: Trump withholds military aid from Ukraine [7]

· September 9th: American spy emergency-exfiltrated from Russia due to security concerns [8]

· September 9th: ICIG tells Intel Committee Chairman Adam Schiff about the whistleblower [9]

· September 10th: National Security Adviser John Bolton resigns [10]

· September 12th: Trump reverses course on military aid for Ukraine after Schiff requests whistleblower report [11]

· September 13th: Intel Committee Chairman Adam Schiff goes public about whistleblower report [12]

· September 19th: Inspector General Atkinson testifies to House Intel Committee, refuses to provide any details of whistleblower report, saying he is not authorized to do so. Intel Committee Chairman Adam Schiff accused the Justice Department of withholding the whistleblower’s report. The White House and Department of Justice acknowledged that they instructed subordinates to withhold the report. [16]

Analysis:
It certainly appears that President Trump promised an adversarial foreign leader, most likely Vladimir Putin or Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud, something of value in a quid-pro-quo which was concerning enough to members of the intelligence community to warrant filing an official report. This promise could have been anything from lobbying the G7 to let Russia back in, to handing over the name and location of one or more US spies, or allowing the Saudis to direct the US military response to the attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities.
This whistleblower’s report and Trump’s alleged promise demonstrate his dangerous lack of discretion when dealing with adversarial foreign nations, as previously seen when he burned an Israeli spy to Russia. [15]

There is no doubt that if a Democratic President had made such an egregious move, the Republican Party would be holding impeachment hearings immediately — however, there is once again deafening silence from Congressional Republicans.

Sources:

1. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-called-putin-to-offer-help-putting-out-siberias-wildfires-kremlin

2. https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/06/politics/jon-huntsman-resignation-letter-russia/index.html

3. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/dan-coats-disrupted-meeting-to-urge-sue-gordon-to-resign-report

4. https://www.npr.org/2019/08/08/749599468/trump-names-new-acting-director-of-national-intelligence

5. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/why-is-the-dni-hiding-an-urgent-whistleblower-complaint-from-congress

6. https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/24/opinions/g7-primer-bociurkiw/index.html

7. https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2019/08/28/trump-ukraine-military-aid-russia-1689531?__twitter_impression=true

8. https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/09/politics/russia-us-spy-extracted/index.html

9. https://www.vox.com/2019/9/18/20872701/dni-whistleblower-schiff-intelligence

10. https://www.wsj.com/articles/john-bolton-resigns-11568157627

11. https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2019/09/12/trump-administration-ukraine-military-aid-3825755?__twitter_impression=true