Thread by @msbellows

The acting Director of National Intelligence's refusal to forward a whistleblower complaint to the House Intelligence Committee may be the biggest story in politics r.n. It's potentially HUGE. Why? Because it's a) documented + b) strikes VERY close to Trump himself. Thoughts:
1/

We know the misconduct alleged by the unknown Intelligence Community whistleblower involves Trump or someone VERY close to him, for several reasons:
a) The DNI has said he consulted DOJ (in contravention of statute) bec the matter potentially involves executive privilege...
2/

(Executive privilege only applies to the Prez himself and, arguably, very senior aides. Think Don Jr., Kushner, etc.)
3/

b. The DNI's lawyer – in a letter blowing off Schiff's subpoena – wrote that the matter doesn't concern an "urgent concern" as defined by statute, even though the Inspector General says it does – which suggests that this involves the WH. Here's why:
4/

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1174129639507333121

Politico's summary of the DNI's lawyer's letter is below. Nutshell: because the person who allegedly harmed an intel operation isn't part of the Intelligence Community and doesn't work for the DNI, the DNI doesn't need to forward the whistleblower's complaint to Congress.
5/

(Source: politico.com/story/2019/09/…)

Here's the statutory language itself:
6/

Query: who in the govt
• Has access to secret intelligence
• Is careless with secret intelligence
• Doesn't technically work IN the IC
• Works outside OR ABOVE the Director of National Intelligence who oversees everything intel-related, &
• Can claim Executive Privilege?
7/

That's why I suspect this might be what brings Trump down. It might be bigger than anything we've seen so far. There's a person who wants to whistleblow. Their claim is documented. The Inspector General has found it "credible and urgent." There's a statute directly on point...
8/

The official who's resisting production is merely acting, not confirmed.
9/

And since the DNI facially isn't obeying the law, the whistleblower arguably can directly inform Schiff (interestingly, not necc. his staff) what he knows. Schiff may not need to go to court: citing "urgency," he arguably could have the whistleblower testify right now.
10/

So, yeah: Trump should be scared. Schiff's on the warpath. This is WAY bigger than anything else on the media radar right now. Stay focused, folks.
11/11