Thread by @kurteichenwald

1. The most important story right now:

The Trump Administration is knowingly and willfully breaking the law, to wit the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act.

This requires DNI to turn over to Congress any whistleblower report deemed by IG to be urgent.....

2... so, reporters, you are watching lawbreaking right in front of you. And you are spending time asking about a Biden conspiracy theory, or what did Trump say on a call, blah blah. All of this is falderal right now.

Build the story, from the ground up. The lawbreaking...

3...is step one. Slam "why why why, how how how are you withholding?" This is Title VII of Public Law 105-272. People seem hesitant in their interviews on what it says. So, here is the language you need to know...

(Whole law linked here, at 112 stat 2413) govinfo.gov/content/pkg/ST…

4...I'm going to be attaching a lot of language of the law here so people can understand the magnitude of what is going on and STOP letting Trump officials lie with impunity on the air.

Here, is the reason Congress is supposed to get this information:

5...Technically, nothing stops the IG or the whistleblower from stepping forward to the committees, although there is little doubt that the Barr folks would prosecute on some trumped up charge....

6...but because of concern about reprisals - and to ensure the intelligence committees have access to the information they need to keep oversight of intelligence community - protections were put in place for whistleblowers....

7. ..the first step of reporting is that the intelligence employee or contractor submits a report to the Inspector General. In lawful times, that is the END of the whistleblower's role. All decisions from here on out are determined by the IG...

8...the IG then has two weeks to make a decision as to whether the report is credible and urgent. After such a determination, the report is handed over to the Director of National Intelligence...

9...then, the DNI has 7 days to hand it over to the intelligence committees. While the DNI is empowered to add independent comments, there is NO authority under any part of the law to for the DNI to withhold the report from Congress...

10...in the DNI's own written words - back when we had an @ODNIgov that was not corrupt as hell - any whistleblower complaint deemed credible and urgent not only "shall" be turned over, but "must" be turned over to the Intelligence committees....

@ODNIgov 11...now, there is a slight out here for the whistleblower, but only if he/she wants to risk whether Barr and the Justice Department will act as law enforcement officials or Banana Republic thugs. While this out was written for circumstances where the IG does not find the...

@ODNIgov 12...whistleblower report credible or urgent, there is a language issue here. If the IG does not find it credible and urgent, the whistleblower has the power to notify the intelligence committees independently, so long as the IG and DNI are notified of the intent to do so first..

@ODNIgov 13...now, the problem is, no one EVER imagined that the DNI would simply break the law, so that out was not written for the purpose of getting around a DNI who refuses to turn over a complaint deemed urgent and credible.

However....the language might support allowing....

@ODNIgov 14...the whistleblower to approach the intelligence committees independently. An argument could be made that the Inspector General is not transmitting the complaint in that he is being stopped by the DNI. A risky move, to be sure....

@ODNIgov 15...so what we have out there RIGHT NOW is an abuse of power and illegal violation of the law that would have led to Nixon's impeachment if done then: The DNI is breaking the law, and a poor guy who followed the rules is now at risk....

@ODNIgov 16...THIS is the story. Not some Biden conspiracy theory or even what Trump said on the call - since we don't know. It is the willful violation of the law and abuse of our intelligence services taking place right in front of our eyes. Do not let Trumpers act like they have...

@ODNIgov 17...the authority to break this law, or that the DNI/DOJ etc have the right to review a complaint to determine whether or not the IG was correct in his judgment. Or let Mnuchin get away with his "set a bad precedent" argument....

@ODNIgov 18...The bad precedent is rampant lawbreaking, not complying with the law. Focus, for God's sake. Learn the law, speak to the experts, and then force these people to answer questions based on information and law, not based on who screams the loudest or tweets salacious stuff.

Sorry...wrong attachment above. here is the right one...

@ODNIgov 19...up above, I posted the wrong image regarding the requirements of the DNI on transmitting the report to Congress. Here is the law: