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1/ The Office of Legal Counsel's memo on the "whistleblower" complaint has to my knowledge not received a lot of attention. OLC was asked assess ICIG Michael Atkinson's decisions and the results are pretty damning.
justice.gov/olc/file/12045…
justice.gov/olc/file/12045…
2/ According to Atkinson, what Trump said in the phone call could be viewed as soliciting a foreign campaign contribution in violation of campaign-finance laws.
That's a pretty strong charge, which is why some may find it surprising that...
That's a pretty strong charge, which is why some may find it surprising that...
3/ Atkinson never conducted any detailed legal analysis of whether the allegation would amount to an unlawful solicitation of a campaign contribution.
OLC doesn't say whether it would but -unlike Atkinson- it does not have to because it concludes that the WP law does not apply.
OLC doesn't say whether it would but -unlike Atkinson- it does not have to because it concludes that the WP law does not apply.
4/ Before we get to why WB law does not apply, here's a little nugget. ICIG found "arguable political bias" on the part of the "whisteblower" but found the allegations credible nonetheless.
How did ICIG form that opinion esp since ICIG failed to conduct thorough legal analysis?
How did ICIG form that opinion esp since ICIG failed to conduct thorough legal analysis?
5/ As to why the "WB" complaint does not fall under the WB law, the short answer is that the president is not a member of the IC. How did ICIG Michael Atkinson not figure that out?
Notice also how OLC highlights that the "WB" relayed "secondhand" info (which is a separate topic)
Notice also how OLC highlights that the "WB" relayed "secondhand" info (which is a separate topic)
6/ Here's another little nugget. Basically you can't use WB law against president who's not IC but you can against DNI. Perhaps this is something the hoaxers will try next time. That said, OLC also points out that DNI is not charged with preventing foreign election interference.
7/ Lastly, anticipating complaints that WB law is defective, the memo also discusses what WB law says about these types of situations where the complaint isn't covered by WB law. It says that the complaint should be forwarded to DoJ, which is of course exactly what happened.
8/ Bottom line: The OLC's memo thoroughly debunks the conclusions of ICIG Michael Atkinson. What is rare for a memo like this, the debunking is so comprehensive and unequivocal that one has to wonder what ICIG Michael Atkinson was up to. Or did he just have really bad lawyers?
This is the guy who wrote the memo, Steven Engel. The fact that McCain opposed his nomination to work in OLC is probably a good sign. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_En…
