Schiff Issues Subpoena for Whistleblower Complaint Being Unlawfully Withheld

[UNCjigga]

Here’s the WaPo scoop...couldn’t find it initially:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trumps-communications-with-foreign-leader-are-part-of-whistleblower-complaint-that-spurred-standoff-between-spy-chief-and-congress-former-officials-say/2019/09/18/df651aa2-da60-11e9-bfb1-849887369476_story.html

Edit: “former officials say”...hmm, would that be Dan Coats and/or Susan Gordon??

 

[interchange]

My hope is it's Trump promising MBS that he would provide cover for the execution of Kashoggi. Double bonus tar and feathering time if it happened before the actual execution.

 

[UNCjigga]

I mean, it really is sad that it could be any number of foreign leaders Trump would sell us out to in order to make a buck.

Did he promise KJU to limit missile defenses in South Korea?

Did he promise Netanyahu some sort of “quid pro quo” to help him win his election?

Did he promise MBS we’d help frame Iran for a Houthi attack??

Did he promise Putin he’d redirect funds from Russian deterrence defenses in Europe to build the Wall?

How fucked up is our Administration that each one of these options isn’t just a far-fetched conspiracy theory, but actually plausible??

 

[Gabe323]

DNI's public appearance will be changed to private after tomorrow and we'll never hear a thing about it again.

 

[woolfe9998]

I mean, it really is sad that it could be any number of foreign leaders Trump would sell us out to in order to make a buck.

Did he promise KJU to limit missile defenses in South Korea?

Did he promise Netanyahu some sort of “quid pro quo” to help him win his election?

Did he promise MBS we’d help frame Iran for a Houthi attack??

Did he promise Putin he’d redirect funds from Russian deterrence defenses in Europe to build the Wall?

How fucked up is our Administration that each one of these options isn’t just a far-fetched conspiracy theory, but actually plausible??

It was Putin.

Per WaPo, his most recent communications have been with: Putin, KJU, the prime minister of Pakistan, the prime minister of the Netherlands, and the emir of Qatar. His communication with KJU was two letters KJU sent to him. His communication with Putin was a phone call. According to WaPo's source, this communication which is the subject of the whistleblower complaint was a phone call.

So it's Putin. There's enough information in the article to make that clear. And since Putin is the foreign leader people would guess Trump is most likely to make an inappropriate promise to, it comes as no surprise.

 

[Moonbeam]

Laurence O’Donnell Sept 18 has news on this from Washington Post report.

 

[cytg111]

Apparently they have Trump promising “a foreign leader” something that compromised American/Allied defenses.

Let’s all guess who that foreign leader might be...

Now your "allies" wants to fucking know too..... Wtf!

 

[cytg111]

It was Putin.

Per WaPo, his most recent communications have been with: Putin, KJU, the prime minister of Pakistan, the prime minister of the Netherlands, and the emir of Qatar. His communication with KJU was two letters KJU sent to him. His communication with Putin was a phone call. According to WaPo's source, this communication which is the subject of the whistleblower complaint was a phone call.

So it's Putin. There's enough information in the article to make that clear. And since Putin is the foreign leader people would guess Trump is most likely to make an inappropriate promise to, it comes as no surprise.

We need the actual dialouge here... Jfc.

 

[dawp]

I wonder who this admins 'deep throat' is, if there is one.

 

[pcgeek11]

There sure is a lot of speculation going on in this thread....

 

[ch33zw1z]

There sure is a lot of speculation going on in this thread....

Someone on your lawn again?

Chairman Schiff stated:

“A month ago, a whistleblower within the intelligence community lawfully filed a complaint regarding a serious or flagrant problem, abuse, violation of law, or deficiency within the responsibility or authority of the Director of National Intelligence. The Inspector General of the Intelligence Community found that complaint not only credible, but urgent. More than ten days since the Director was obligated to transmit the complaint to the intelligence committees, the Committee has still not received the disclosure from the Director, in violation of the law.

“A Director of National Intelligence has never prevented a properly submitted whistleblower complaint that the IC IG determined to be credible and urgent from being provided to the congressional intelligence committees. Never. This raises serious concerns about whether White House, Department of Justice or other executive branch officials are trying to prevent a legitimate whistleblower complaint from reaching its intended recipient, the Congress, in order to cover up serious misconduct.

“After Watergate exposed significant intelligence abuses, a critical bargain was struck: in exchange for the Intelligence Community’s willingness to reveal closely guarded national security secrets, the congressional intelligence committees and leadership promised to handle that information responsibly. It was also of vital importance that intelligence officials have a lawful and protected means of bringing misconduct to the attention of Congress and the public. By withholding a credible whistleblower complaint that potentially deals with executive branch wrongdoing, the DNI is in violation of the applicable statute and has made itself a party to the concealment of potentially serious misconduct.”

You voted for this, quit your crying. Tell us again how law and order makes a difference to you. Maybe it's another super secret reason you don't wanna talk about again.

 

[interchange]

There sure is a lot of speculation going on in this thread....

True. And there's an awful lot of criminal activity going on in the Trump administration....

 

[fskimospy]

Here’s the WaPo scoop...couldn’t find it initially:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trumps-communications-with-foreign-leader-are-part-of-whistleblower-complaint-that-spurred-standoff-between-spy-chief-and-congress-former-officials-say/2019/09/18/df651aa2-da60-11e9-bfb1-849887369476_story.html

Edit: “former officials say”...hmm, would that be Dan Coats and/or Susan Gordon??

Coates did resign as DNI shortly after the call with Putin took place. Since it didn’t happen that long ago it’s hard to think of other people who would know the contents of the IG report while already being former officials.

I struggle to think of any good or innocent explanation as to why the DNI would want to cover up the contents of a phone call between Trump and (probably) Putin that a Trump appointed IG determined to be so dangerous that a complaint against it was both credible and urgent.

 

[UNCjigga]

Coates did resign as DNI shortly after the call with Putin took place. Since it didn’t happen that long ago it’s hard to think of other people who would know the contents of the IG report while already being former officials.

I struggle to think of any good or innocent explanation as to why the DNI would want to cover up the contents of a phone call between Trump and (probably) Putin that a Trump appointed IG determined to be so dangerous that a complaint against it was both credible and urgent.

Some on Twitter have also pointed out that our ambassador to Russia resigned a few days after the Russian phone call, and before the complaint was filed, but I don’t think it was Huntsman.

Seems like the media is betting it was the Russian phone call that led to the whistleblower complaint. Twitter pundits are speculating this is somehow related to that Russian spy being outed and forced to flee his home in Virginia.

 

[interchange]

Trump is certainly pushing the idea of executive privilege to the maximum. This is troubling. If executive privilege bars a credible and urgent whistleblower complaint from reaching the only body capable of putting checks on impropriety by a President, then the office of the presidency is granted carte blanche. That's a fundamental failure of our system of government.

On the other side of things, if foreign affairs -- corrupt or not -- are exposed without due care, it could threaten national security.

So there needs to be some measure of containment. Part one was the IG. But part two or any other part that has power to kill a complaint from going any further is a presidential appointee or otherwise within the administration of the President, that cannot be tenable as a means to protect the public.

 

[HomerJS]

There sure is a lot of speculation going on in this thread....

There is something we know for sure. DNI was by law, obligated to pass this complaint on to Congress and he didn't.

DNI needs to be prosecuted.

 

[fskimospy]

Trump is certainly pushing the idea of executive privilege to the maximum. This is troubling. If executive privilege bars a credible and urgent whistleblower complaint from reaching the only body capable of putting checks on impropriety by a President, then the office of the presidency is granted carte blanche. That's a fundamental failure of our system of government.

On the other side of things, if foreign affairs -- corrupt or not -- are exposed without due care, it could threaten national security.

So there needs to be some measure of containment. Part one was the IG. But part two or any other part that has power to kill a complaint from going any further is a presidential appointee or otherwise within the administration of the President, that cannot be tenable as a means to protect the public.

Yes, according to the administration’s argument the president can be caught by a member of the intelligence community committing high treason and the president has the legal authority to imprison him for telling anyone about it.

In 2.5 years we have seen the president say he can spend money in direct defiance to the will of Congress, that he can fire federal officials and stop any investigation into criminal activity by himself or his associates, that he can prevent Congress from knowing if he is jeopardizing the national security of the US, and that he can pardon anyone held in contempt by a court for violating the laws at his request.

If this is allowed to go on why bother to have the other two branches of government? This is why I say it is imperative for everyone to vote in 2020. This is a national emergency.

 

[Moonbeam]

Yes, according to the administration’s argument the president can be caught by a member of the intelligence community committing high treason and the president has the legal authority to imprison him for telling anyone about it.

In 2.5 years we have seen the president say he can spend money in direct defiance to the will of Congress, that he can fire federal officials and stop any investigation into criminal activity by himself or his associates, that he can prevent Congress from knowing if he is jeopardizing the national security of the US, and that he can pardon anyone held in contempt by a court for violating the laws at his request.

If this is allowed to go on why bother to have the other two branches of government? This is why I say it is imperative for everyone to vote in 2020. This is a national emergency.

I was just reading about a bunch of teenagers taking videos as a young boy was being stabbed to death. I thought to myself, how much that's like the American people in general, soulless and empty.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

There sure is a lot of speculation going on in this thread....

There is and I’m going to try to be quiet until more is known.
What I do know is the complaint shouldn’t be blocked from the bipartisan intelligence committee and that committee shouldn’t leak the info (provided it’s not something completely outrageous)
It’s well known the President is easily manipulated by praise. Wouldn’t surprise me if he said something to someone he shouldn’t have said it to and what he did makes him look “weak”.
I don’t think it’s going to be something as bold as
give me this land and I’ll give you...
Hey Puti you’re my Bro here’s all the US secret files
MBS this reporter is giving me a hard time, I need you to...

 

[fskimospy]

There is and I’m going to try to be quiet until more is known.
What I do know is the complaint shouldn’t be blocked from the bipartisan intelligence committee and that committee shouldn’t leak the info (provided it’s not something completely outrageous)
It’s well known the President is easily manipulated by praise. Wouldn’t surprise me if he said something to someone he shouldn’t have said it to and what he did makes him look “weak”.
I don’t think it’s going to be something as bold as
give me this land and I’ll give you...
Hey Puti you’re my Bro here’s all the US secret files
MBS this reporter is giving me a hard time, I need you to...

The reports claim he made a 'promise' that prompted the whistleblower complaint.

Remember, this complaint was found to be 'credible and urgent'. Complaints aren't substantiated if they are about the president saying something dumb that makes him look weak. They aren't substantiated over policy differences. In both those cases they would be thrown out. Considering the wide latitude the president has in conducting foreign affairs for that to happen almost certainly means Trump's promise was a violation of federal law or the Constitution.

We don't know how serious the violation of law/Constitution was so we shouldn't jump to conclusions that he promised to sell Putin the White House or whatever but we also shouldn't go too far the other way. For this complaint to have happened and for a Trump appointed IG to find it both credible and urgent very strongly suggests that what happened was serious.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

The reports claim he made a 'promise' that prompted the whistleblower complaint.

Remember, this complaint was found to be 'credible and urgent'. Complaints aren't substantiated if they are about the president saying something dumb that makes him look weak. They aren't substantiated over policy differences. In both those cases they would be thrown out. Considering the wide latitude the president has in conducting foreign affairs for that to happen almost certainly means Trump's promise was a violation of federal law or the Constitution.

We don't know how serious the violation of law/Constitution was so we shouldn't jump to conclusions that he promised to sell Putin the White House or whatever but we also shouldn't go too far the other way. For this complaint to have happened and for a Trump appointed IG to find it both credible and urgent very strongly suggests that what happened was serious.

Let me be more concise, someone tossed the President a bigly compliment and his that person is being loyal to me instinct kicked in and he said something stupid to the compliment guy. Stupid like were planning to......but I said no to that because you guys are too smart to do that to.

Something that makes the President look so easily manipulated that a small percentage of the MAGA people would question it.

 

[UNCjigga]

Isn't the IC IG supposed to testify in a closed door meeting today with Schiff and the Gang of Eight? I thought that was still happening, regardless of DNI's participation. At the very least, Schiff should have a lot more to go on, but I doubt he'll go into specifics with the public. Maddow is trying to get him on tonight.

 

[VRAMdemon]

I hope the whistleblower meets Bob Woodward in a parking garage and gives him a transcript. It's more than likely Putin, and I bet it was on the order of "get me re-elected and I'll pull the US out of NATO" or something like that. This would allow him to skate any prosecution due to statutes of limitations. He knows he needs to get re-elected to avoid possible prison time and I'm sure he knows he can't do it without massive help from the Russians.

Obviously...I'm not doubting that there is most likely treasonous stuff going on with the Republicans favorite con man, but I doubt the story will result in consequences for him. At this point, he is completely and utterly above the law and he knows it. He's not been thrown out of office, he is now his own judge and jury. He is lining his pockets with tax payer money and has even completely stopped any check Congress has on him, both through having Mitch in his back pocket and through just outright defying congressional subpoenas with no consequence. He is in power, untouchable, and raiding the country's coffers to his own benefit. It doesn't matter what other disasters he leaves behind, he is personally coming out way ahead in this game.

 

[zinfamous]

There sure is a lot of speculation going on in this thread....

jesus fucking christ

 

[Fanatical Meat]

jesus fucking christ

He is right there is a lot of speculation going on in this thread but the whole premise of the thread is speculation