WH to release document showing intel community watchdog found whistleblower had 'political bias,' official says
By
Gregg Re,
John Roberts,
Ed Henry | Fox News
Intelligence community inspector general alleges whistleblower had 'political bias' against Trump
A senior Trump administration official told Fox News late Tuesday that the administration will release a document showing the intelligence community inspector general found the whistleblower who leveled an explosive accusation against President Trump concerning his talks with Ukraine had “political bias” in favor of “a rival candidate” of the president.
The official did not identify the name of the rival candidate. Separately, a senior administration official told Fox News the White House has been working as quickly as it can to release to Congress the whistleblower complaint involving President Trump's conversations with the leader of Ukraine, as long as it's legally possible.
The senior administration official told Fox News that the White House had nothing to hide, that there has been no wrongdoing, and that the White House's general position has been that it will make everything possible available to Congress or the public regarding Trump's conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the complaint to the intelligence community's inspector general.
A
source familiar with the matter told Fox News this week that the whistleblower had no firsthand knowledge of Trump's July call with
Zelensky. Trump
vowed earlier Tuesday to release a "complete" transcript of the call by Wednesday.
A senior administration official told Fox News there are a “few words” in the transcript that will raise eyebrows, but it is nowhere near as inflammatory as Democrats have suggested.
The contents of the call, as well as the whistleblower complaint, could throw cold water on Democrats' explosive suggestions that the president improperly threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine unless it investigated Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Republicans
had predicted over the weekend that such an impeachment inquiry could backfire on Pelosi, and
administration officials have said Trump was concerned only with broader corruption in Ukraine.
Joe Biden
has acknowledged on camera that, when he was vice president, he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, while Shokin was investigating the natural gas firm
Burisma Holdings — where Hunter Biden was on the board.
The House speaker specifically charged that the administration had violated the law by failing to turn over the whistleblower complaint. Citing testimony that the director of national intelligence was blocking the release of that complaint, she said: "This is a violation of law. The law is unequivocal."
Fox News also was told the White House has taken steps to alleviate concerns about the precedential nature of releasing a transcript of the phone call with Zelensky. With the release of the transcript, the White House has put in place protections to preserve the confidential nature of conversations between the president and world leaders.
And, The New York Times
reported that the White House had dropped its objection to the whistleblower speaking to Congress. That came after the GOP-controlled Senate passed a unanimous resolution seeking access to the whistleblower's complaint.
DNI Inspector General Michael Atkinson said in a Sep. 9 letter to the House Intelligence Committee that the whistleblower complaint "appeared credible" and related to an "urgent" matter. But the DNI general counsel said days later that, after consulting with the DOJ, the matter did not meet the legal definition of an “urgent concern," and was not subject to mandatory disclosure to Congress.
US Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and US Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, will lead the review -- with Schiff in charge. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
“Furthermore, because the complaint involves confidential and potentially privileged communications by persons outside the Intelligence Community, the DNI lacks unilateral authority to transmit such materials to the intelligence committees,” Jason Klitenic, the DNI general counsel, wrote.
Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire will testify before the House Intelligence Committee at an open hearing on Thursday.
Republicans said the move would prove to be a major political mistake.
"It is a colossal error," Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn told Fox News just prior to Pelosi's comments. "And, I’m kind of surprised that Speaker Pelosi, as shrewd as she is, would let it get to this point."
Swing district Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., acknowledged to Fox News that supporting the impeachment inquiry "could" affect her electorally, but she maintained that Trump voters in her district "understand," and that Trump crossed a red line.
Trump, for his part, ripped into Democrats in a series of
tweets immediately after Pelosi's comments, writing that "PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT" was in progress again.
In remarks to reporters at the United Nations on Monday, Trump denied linking the aid money to Ukraine's investigative actions. “No, I didn’t — I didn’t do it,” Trump said. But, he also repeatedly called the Bidens' actions in Ukraine
a "disgrace," acknowledged that Biden had come up during the call and added: "It's very important to talk about corruption. ... Why would you give money to a country that you think is corrupt?"
House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, called Democrats' efforts predictable and destructive in his own fiery statement.
"Democrats have been trying to impeach the President since the beginning of this Congress," Jordan said. "Michael Cohen's testimony was a bust. John Dean's testimony was a waste of time. The Mueller report did not live up to the hype.
"Speaker Pelosi's decision to pursue impeachment now - on the basis of unsubstantiated, indirect, and anonymous allegations - only shows that the Speaker has finally succumbed to unrelenting pressure from the socialist wing of the Democrat Party," Jordan added. "This was never about Russian collusion or Ukrainian prosecutions. It is all about undoing the 2016 election and the will of the American people."
Trump is set to meet with Zelensky in New York on Wednesday. The visit was previously scheduled, unrelated to the whistleblower allegation, although the two leaders are expected to face questions about the matter from reporters.
A total of 172 House Dblicemocrats have now signaled strong support for an impeachment inquiry -- 235 Democrats and 198 Repuans are in the House, with
one pro-impeachment independent.
A successful majority would be required to impeach the president. A highly unlikely two-thirds vote in the GOP-controlled Senate would be needed to convict and remove the president.
Vice President Mike Pence would then take office in that scenario.
"The ironic thing is is that everything that our critics in the media are leveling at the president from this phone call, and leveling at our administration, everything that Democrats on Capitol Hill are running off and describing -- Vice President Joe Biden bragged about -- which was a quid-pro-quo -- withholding American aid in exchange for a specific action," Pence told Fox News' "Hannity" on Monday.