The ‘Whistleblower’ Is the Deep State Interfering in Trump’s Ukraine Policy
Posted on | September 20, 2019 | Comments Off on The ‘Whistleblower’ Is the Deep State Interfering in Trump’s Ukraine Policy
When the Washington Post started reporting about a “whistleblower” complaint about President Trump’s conversation with an unspecified “foreign leader,” speculation ran wild as to what it meant. But as Allahpundit at Hot Air figured out, it’s about Trump’s effort to get Ukraine to investigate corruption involving Joe Biden’s son. As part of that effort, apparently, Trump played hardball, conveying that U.S. military aid to Ukraine would be dependent on their cooperation.
And the correct response is, “So?” Is it the position of Democrats and their media allies that the apparently corrupt dealings of Joe Biden’s son in Ukraine should not be investigated? And as has been noted, Russia wasn’t the only foreign government “meddling” in the 2016 election — Ukraine did it, too. So if the Biden-Ukraine scandal is connected to that “meddling,” isn’t it logical that Trump would want Ukraine to investigate it? He’s the President of the United States, after all, and this investigation involves American interests, which he is sworn to protect.
Both The Washington Post and The New York Times report that an intelligence official who worked in the White House filed the complaint Aug. 12 after growing alarmed about the details of a phone call that President Donald Trump had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, citing two people familiar with the matter.
Trump and Zelensky, who took office in May, spoke by phone July 25. The Ukrainian government released a read-out of the phone call that said the two leaders spoke about corruption investigations “that have hampered interaction between Ukraine and the USA.” . . .
Details of the complaint have spilled into public view following a tense battle between House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence.
Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community inspector general (ICIG), sent Schiff letters this month making it clear that he disagreed with Maguire’s decision not to turn the whistleblower complaint over to Congress. Atkinson said he found the complaint credible and “urgent,” a threshold that requires the Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to sent an intelligence community whistleblower complaint to Congress.
But Maguire, with guidance from the Justice Department, declined to turn over the complaint, saying it involved privileged communications.
Rudy Giuliani has admitted that he acted as Trump’s representative in discussions with Ukrainian officials. Again, the question is, “So?”
Only in the minds of Democrats, for whom everything Trump does is scandalous, is this considered a scandal. And it is apparent that this “whistleblower” is a Democrat operative embedded in our intelligence bureaucracy, a perfect example of the “Deep State” problem that Trump’s supporters have been talking about for three years. The bureaucrats seem to believe that they should have more influence on U.S. policy than the President himself, if the President doesn’t share their worldview.
UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!
Question: Will this boomerang back on Trump-haters? Will their latest “get Trump” trick instead result in increased scrutiny of Biden’s corrupt Ukraine dealings? Because I suspect it will.