Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire is scheduled to appear before the House Intelligence Committee to answer questions regarding the process he used in handling a urgent and credible whistleblower complaint filed against President Donald Trump.
Background.
September 9th: via Twitter.
BREAKING: House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs & Oversight Committees launch a wide-ranging investigation into reported efforts by Trump, his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and possibly others to pressure Ukraine to help the President's reelection campaign: https://t.co/SnwaoDxlay
— House Intelligence Committee (@HouseIntel) September 9, 2019
September 13th: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA), subpoenaed Acting DNI Maguire requiring him to testify regarding his failure to deliver an “urgent whistleblower disclosure,” to the Committee within 7 days of Maguire receiving the ICIG’s determination that complaint was both urgent and credible.
September 17th: Politico reporter Kyle Cheney posts a letter via Twitter from DNI lawyer Jason Klitenic that says Maguire wasn’t under a legal obligation to provide the Committee with the whistleblower complaint because the whistleblower was someone outside of the Intelligence Community. The letter also tells Schiff it would be premature for Maguire to testify before the Committee.
The letter from the DNI lawyer:https://t.co/yn4glKOIkv pic.twitter.com/Xq4wqA9cZA
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) September 18, 2019
September 18th: The Washington Post reports that at heart of the complaint is President Trump and his communications with foreign leaders. Specifically a conversation or many with the President of the Ukraine.
September 19th: The New York Times reported ICIG, Michael Atkinson, who testified behind closed doors gave no specifics of the complaint, but did say the complaint involved multiple actions, according to two people familiar with his testimony.
September 19th: via Twitter.
The House Intelligence Committee has released letters related to the whistleblower complaint.
— House Intelligence Committee (@HouseIntel) September 19, 2019
Inspector General's letter to HPSCI: https://t.co/y5Ctmiox7c
Inspector General's follow up: https://t.co/bTv0638MhL@RepAdamSchiff's letter to Acting DNI: https://t.co/qFf0yCunBG
In his first letter ICIG Atkinson, a President Trump appointee, tells the committee on *9/9/19 that on August 12th, he received a complaint regarding an urgent concern. He notes that once his office received the complaint they had fourteen calendar days to determine if the complaint was both urgent and credible.
He goes on to say on that he forwarded the complaint to the Acting DNI who then had seven calendar days to forward it to the Congressional Intelligence Committees.
*September 17th: The ICIG sends Schiff and Ranking Member of the Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes (R-CA), a follow-up letter.
*I placed the letters in the timeline in which they both were made public. That was September 19th.
September 19th: CNN Chris Cuomo with guest Rudy Giuliani President Trump’s personal attorney.
.@ChrisCuomo: "So you did ask Ukraine to look into Joe Biden?"@RudyGiuliani: "Of course I did"
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) September 20, 2019
President Trump's attorney says he had spoken with a Ukrainian official about Joe Biden's possible role in that government's dismissal of a prosecutor who investigated Biden's son. pic.twitter.com/FTaLGBV1zO
September 21st: The Wall Street Journal reported that in a July phone call the President repeatedly pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, about eight times, to work with Giuliani on a probe into whether former Vice President and Democratic Presidential hopeful Joe Biden pressured Ukraine to drop an investigation regarding his son Hunter Biden.
September 23rd: The New York Times reported that President Trump ordered his Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to freeze $319 million in aid to the Ukraine in the days before a July 25th phone call between President Trump and President Zelensky. The Washington Post was the first to report the story.
September 23rd: Giuliani appears on Fox News for an interview with Sean Hannity and tells Hannity that the State Department asked Giuliani to call Ukraine.
Hannity: Did our State Department ask you to go on a mission for them?
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 24, 2019
Giuliani: They did. The State Department called me and said would I take a call from Mr. Yermak., who's number two or three to the president elect who is now the president. pic.twitter.com/nXDXsE5W2L
September 24th.
The Hill reported that when reached for comment regarding Giuliani’s claim that the State Department asked him to get involved on their behalf with Ukraine, they responded, “Mr. Giuliani is a private citizen and acts in a personal capacity as a lawyer for President Trump. He does not speak on behalf of the U.S. Government.”
President Trump via Twitter announces that he will be making a transcript of the phone call between he and President Zelensky public.
I am currently at the United Nations representing our Country, but have authorized the release tomorrow of the complete, fully declassified and unredacted transcript of my phone conversation with President Zelensky of Ukraine….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2019
….You will see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call. No pressure and, unlike Joe Biden and his son, NO quid pro quo! This is nothing more than a continuation of the Greatest and most Destructive Witch Hunt of all time!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2019
As the News Blender reported Vice President Biden held a presser and said that if President Trump didn’t comply with Congressional oversight then Congress has no choice but to impeach.
On Tuesday evening the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced that the House was officially launching an impeachment inquiry regarding President Trump.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced via Twitter that the Senate had passed a non-bidding resolution calling for the release of the whistleblower complaint to the Senate and House Intel Committees.
BIG:
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) September 24, 2019
The Senate by unanimous consent passed my resolution calling for the whistleblower complaint to be provided to Congress as required by law.
That means every GOP Senator supports the whistleblower report being immediately provided to the Senate and House Intel Committees.
September 25th: The White House releases a mock-up of the July 25th phone call between President Trump and President Zelensky. For more on the transcript @ the News Blender here and here.
September 25th: Wednesday afternoon CNN reported that the complaint had been delivered to Capital Hill. They also reported that a redacted version could possibly be released to the public as early as Thursday morning.
Rep. Jackie Speier: "I can describe that [whistleblower] complaint as nothing short of explosive." pic.twitter.com/65G8JpCz0p
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) September 26, 2019
Spox confirms Speaker Pelosi reviewed the whistleblower complaint tonight, but she cannot comment on its contents because the administration "retroactively classified" the letter.
— John R Parkinson (@jparkABC) September 25, 2019
Rep. Mike Quigley on the whistleblower complaint: “It is extraordinarily detailed and it is very, very well done. … It reinforces the concerns that what we previously learned and I think it is a blueprint for what we still need to know” pic.twitter.com/mrdgVKuupq
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 25, 2019
WATCH: @RepAdamSchiff, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, responds after reading the whistleblower complaint:
— TheBeat w/Ari Melber (@TheBeatWithAri) September 25, 2019
"I found the allegations deeply disturbing. I also found them very credible." pic.twitter.com/Yw2AfnMko9
The hearing is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. eastern, 6 a.m. pacific. It will be the first hearing since Pelosi announced an official impeachment inquiry.
Live Feed Washington Post.
Live Feed C-SPAN.
For what it’s worth.
I did not included all the information we’ve learned over the last couple of weeks in order to have under 1500 words.
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