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New from me: What happens when an intelligence official blows the whistle on the president? The Whistleblower protection law never contemplated a scenario in which the DNI would completely withhold a complaint that the inspector general had deemed “urgent” politico.com/story/2019/09/…
The fact that Acting DNI Maguire is now trying to usurp the IG’s sole authority to determine whether this whistleblower’s complaint is both credible and matter of urgent concern “is a body blow to the intelligence community inspector general’s independence,” says @mcculloughirvin
Maguire essentially gave DOJ the final word on this when he got them involved, per @thejimbaker. “Now that DOJ has opined, that’s the law for the executive branch. As a technical matter, the inspector general has to fall in line.” He appeared to do that today before HPSCI.
Despite the DNI not actually having the authority to overrule the inspector general’s determination that a complaint is an “urgent concern,” there will probably be no real consequence for his doing so. Interestingly, Schiff and the IG seem to disagree on whether...
...the law is the issue. Per the IG, Maguire’s move and the resulting impasse “may reflect a gap in the law that constitutes a significant problem and deficiency...” But Schiff said today: “I don’t think this is a problem of the law,” but rather DOJ’s interpretation of it.
