>> i think that michael atkinson found it to be credible. and he viewed that it was a matter of urgent concern to forward to this committee. >> do you think it's reasonable for the american people and for this committee on both sides to believe that there is a correlation or a nexus between the president suspending the aid and the conversation that took place on the -- >> congress -- >> on the follow-up conversation? >> yes, congresswoman. that is the allegation that is made and i did not have access to the transcripts the icig's cover letter and the whistleblower allegation. the other information coming to light yesterday as released by the president changes things in a different light. >> mr. chairman, may i ask just one more quick question. my understanding is that the inspector general is a career intelligence person. he's worked in the department of justices. he received numerous awards for outstanding exemplary performance. did you have any reason to deny or not believe his conclusions in every area of this report that he was directly

atkinson followed it. mr.hepard: so the department of justice is suggesting the president is above the law? >> mr. mcguire doesn't have to go to congress because the person that violated the statute is not under the purview of national intelligence. you can say that is the president. now, mr. mcguire and mr. atkinson don't have to agree whether it's urgent or needs to be brought forth meaditely. at this point, you have to bring it to continue so they can determine which of the two views, mr. mcgator's view or mr. atkinson's view is correct. >> shepard: that's the separation of powers. investigation -- >> exactly. >> shepard: this was originally put into place, this rule, this law, to protect whistle-blowers so people looking out for the greater good that saw problems within government, goes against the people that they would have a safe place to make a report. >> exactly. you can extrapolate whistle-blowers to any of the things that we see in the healthcare area, the prescription pill area, the finance area an

atkinson was actually appointed by president donald trump, right? >> yes, he is a presidential appointee. >> what lends real credibility to the whistle-blower's complaint is the fact that mr. atkinson, an appointee of the president, would actually bring forward a complaint against his boss. and that's something that is especially courageous. what you want to hear from you is you will also do everything you can to protect mr. atkinson from potential retaliation. >> congressman, absolutely. >> very good. now, the white house released a memorandum of telephone conversation from the july 25th, 2019 call, right? >> i believe that's what was transmitted yesterday morning, sir. >> and they call that a telcon in the jargon, right? >> this is the first time i've seen a transcript of a presidential conversation with a foreign leader. >> have you been a party to a conversation between the president and a foreign leader on a phone call? >> when i am in the office to provide the intelligence brief to the president, some foreign head of state might call in. the p

atkinson does. mr. director, were you ever advised by the white house not to provide this complaint to congress for any reason? >> no, congressman. >> as i understand it, the opinion was that you were not obligated to convey, despite the very clear wording of the law, to convey the complaint to congress. so, the decision was taken to the subpoena of congress, to turn over the complaint, who made the decision to defy that subpoena on september 15th. >> congressman, urgent concerns. >> i'm asking a very simple question. who made the decision to defy the congressional subpoena? i'd like to know who that somebody was. >> congressman, no one did. i endeavored once we had no long the seven-day time line but what i needed to do is work through the executive privilege hurdles with the office of legal counsel at the white house. although this was the most important issue to me, you know, the white house has quite a few other issues they were dealt with. i'd like to have as i said to the chairman, perhaps this mo

>> i believe michael atkinson, yes. >> and interestingly, mr. atkinson was actually appointed by president donald trump, right? >> yes. >> and what lends real credibility to the whistle-blower's complaint is the fact that mr. atkinson, an appointee of the president, would actually bring forward a complaint against his boss and that's something that is especially courageous. what i want to hear from you is you will do everything you can to protect mr. atkinson from potential retaliation? >> congressman, absolutely. >> very good. now the white house released a memorandum of telephone conversations from the july 25th, 2019 call. right? >> i believe that is what was transmitted yesterday, sir? >> they call that a tell con, in the jargon of the memorandum, is that right? >> this is the first time i have seen thenst of conversation with a foreign leader. >> you have been a party to a conversation between the president and a foreign leader on a phone call? >> when i am in the office to provide the intelligence briefed to the president, some foreign hea

i believe guire: michael atkinson, yes. mr. krishnamoorthi: and atkinson was mr. actually appointed by president donald trump, right? director maguire: yes, he was. he's a presidential appointee. mr. krishnamoorthi: what lends redibility to the whistleblower's complaint is the atkinson, an appointee of the president, would actually bring forward a boss.int against his and that's something that is courageous. what i want to hear from you is you also do everything you can atkinson from potential retaliation. irector maguire: congressman, absolutely. mr. krishnamoorthi: very good. now, the white house released a telephone of conversation from the july 25, 2019, call, right? director maguire: i believe that what was transmitted yesterday morning, sir. r. krishnamoorthi: and they all that a telecomm in the jargon of memoranda? director maguire: this is the irst time i have seen a transcript of a president with a foreign leader. telcon is a telephone conversation. kerr crash and have you -- mr. krishnamoorthi: have you a phone present with call? director maguire: some f

atkinson does. were you ever advised by the white house not to provide this complaint to congress for any reason? >> no, congressman. >> and as i understand it, the opinion was that you were not obligated to convey -- despite the very clear wording of the law -- to convey the complaint to congress. so the decision was taken to defy a subpoena of this congress, the subpoena of september 17th, to done over e the -- to turn over the complaint. who made that decision? congress. >> congressman, urgent -- >> i'm asking a simple question. who made the decision to defy the congressional subpoena. somebody said we will not abide by this subpoena and i'd like to know who that somebody was. >> congressman, nobody did. i endeavored once we know longer urgent concern with the seven daytime lime to work to get the information to the committee. what i needed to do was to work through the executive privilege hurdles with the office of legal counsel at the white house. although this was the most important issue to m

atkinson from potential italian asian? dir. maguire: absolutely -- from potential retaliation. >> the white house transmitted -- they call it a telcom? dir. maguire: this is the first time i've ever seen the transcript of a presidential conversation with a foreign leader. have you been a party to a conversation between the president and a foreign leader on a phone call? dir. maguire: when i'm in the office to provide the intelligence brief to the president, some foreign head of state might call in. the president may ask us to leave or stay there for a brief call from time to time. no takers who scribble down furiously what is being said? dir. maguire: if they are note takers they would not be in the oval office. they might be listening somewhere else. >> like from the situation room? dir. maguire: i do not know where. somewhere in the white house. >> in this particular situation, may be more than a dozen people were on the phone call? dir. maguire: that is the allegation. >> and they're all taking notes, presumably? dir. maguir

governor atkinson was also accompanied by the pennsylvania governor, daniel hastings. a reporter from one of the newspapers in town effusively opined, "the remarkable sight of two governors with staff and full uniform marching on foot in procession was a thing never witnessed before in gettysburg and could only have taken place in a free country like ours." i guess he had forgotten that 35 years earlier, something really important had happened here. next in the parade became the second west virginia band and the rest of the regiment. the procession halted on east cemetery hill, stradling and baltimore street, across from the soldiers national cemetery. after the neighbors of the official party had taken their places, the band played america, and a reverend from west virginia gave a brief invocation. before professor miller introduced governor atkinson, he pointed out that in the audience was a young, blue clad lieutenant in the second west virginia whose father, a former confederate, also was in attendance. atkinson arose and said, "my countrymen, we come today to pay

atkinson does. director, were you ever advised by the white house not to provide this complaint to congress for any reason? >> no, congressman. >> okay. and as i understand it, the opinion was that you were not obligated to convey, despite the very clear wording of the law, to convey the complaint to congress. so the decision was taken to defy a subpoena of this congress, the subpoena of september 17th, to turn over the complaint. who made the decision to defy that subpoena of september 17th? >> congressman, urgent concern -- >> sir, i'm asking a very simple question. who made the decision to defy the congressional subpoena? somebody said, we will not abide by this subpoena, and i'd like to know who that somebody was. >> congressman, nobody did. i endeavored once we no longer had urgent concern with the seven-day timeline, you know, to work to get the information to the committee. what i needed to do was to get work through the executive privilege hurdles with the office of legal counsel at the whit

maguire: i think that michael atkinson found it to be credible.nd he viewed it was a matter of urgent concern to forward to this committee. rep. demings: do you think it is reasonable for the american people and the committee on both sides to believe that there is a correlation or a nexus between the president suspending the aid and the conversation that took place, the follow-up conversation? dir. maguire: yes, congresswoman, that is the allegation that is made. i did not have access to the transcripts. my only information was the icig's cover letter and the allegation -- whistleblower allegation. the other information coming to light yesterday, as released by the president, changes things in a different light. rep. demings: mr. chairman, may i just ask one more very quickly? my understanding is that the attorney -- inspector general is a career intelligence person. he has worked in the department of justice, he has received numerous awards for outstanding, exemplary performance. did you have any reason to deny or not believe his conclusions in e

atkinson does. were you ever advised by the white house not to provide this complaint to congress for any reason? director maguire: no, congressman. >> as i understand it, the opinion was that you were not despite the convey, clear wording of the law, to convey the complaint to congress. the decision was taken to defy a subpoena of this congress, a subpoena of september, to turn over the complaint. who made the decision to defy that subpoena? director maguire: congressman, urgent concern -- >> who made the decision to defy the congressional subpoena? will notsaid, "we abide by this subpoena." i would like to know who that was. director maguire: nobody did. i endeavored once we have no concern with the seven-day timeline to get the information to the committee. what i needed to do was get through the executive privilege hurdles with the office of legal counsel at the white house. although this was the most important issue to me, the white house has got a few other issues. have sentve liked to it to t

atkinson does. were you ever advised by the white house not to provide this complaint to congress for any reason? >> no, congressman. >> okay. as i understand it, the opinion was that you were not obligated to convey, despite the clear wording of the law, to convey the complaint to congress. so the decision was taken to defy a subpoena of this congress, the subpoena of september 17th to turn over the complaint. who made the decision to defy that subpoena of september 17th? >> congressman, urgent concerns -- >> i'm asking a simple question. who made the decision to defy the congressional subpoena. somebody said we will not abide by the subpoena and i would like to know who that was. >> nobody did. i endeavored once we no longer had you urgent concern. what i needed to do is work through the executive privilege hurdles with the office of legal counsel at the white house. although this was the most important issue to me, the white house has got quite a few other issues that they dealt with. i would hav

atkinson in prior life -- it troubles me he is essentially defers to odni on this issue. should have been much more forthright with the intelligence committee, but according to the letter he sent to the committees on september 17th, the dni has put him between a rock and a hard place. the dni has made it almost impossible, he says in the letter, to carry out the two prime functions of his job. >> last question quickly. especially based on what you do in your day job there. are you concerned at all about the impact this could have on potential whistle-blowers? >> more than concerned. the worst thing that could ever happen to me is i get tomorrow a whistle-blower to my workplace and i have to tell them there's a chance dni or the white house or some political official is going to tell them that, tell i.g. they are wrong. it doesn't matter. what the whistle-blower is revealing isn't serious. it's absurd and i hope to can be krec corrected. >> thank you again. appreciate it. >>> moments ago canada's prime minister admitting he's hurt people after three pictures surfaced of hi

atkinson, the ig, i don't believe went to the justice department. atkinson works for maguire. and atkinson is not -- was not authorized by law to divulge the complaint to the congressional committees on his own. and i think his hands are tied there. and to a certain extent, i think maguire feels his hands were tied, that he has, as we've reported, raised concerns about this issue with both the justice department and the white house. he's not doing what he's doing, you know, willingly. >> understood. and this all happened before he even came into office. to the president saying does anyone think i'm dumb enough to say something sensitive when i know people are listening, i just want to show everyone what happened at the border wall. this was a very political photo opportunity to try to show people that there is a wall being built, even though it's a repair of a wall that was already there, but in any case, this is what he said and how he was challenged by the border patrol officer who was right there. take a look. >> one thing we haven't mentioned is technology. they're wired s

atkinson behind closed dos today.t did you learn today that led you to believe you urgently need more infmation about that complaint? >> there doesn't seem to be any dispute over the fact that this complaint is urgent and credible. that is apparently not the basis it's been withheld us. rather than the department of justice weighing in with the office of director of naional intelligence, that director is depriving us of the complaint because he says it's beyond his isrisdiction. that means that urgent matter is going unaddressed. it also means that someone is giving these marching orders to the director. f we want d out is the white house involved in that? we need to know, frthkly, whethewhite house is also a subject of the complaint because the idea that so could weigh in whoig's the subjt of the complaint and essentially quash it would cause, i think, the whistleblower statute to be meaningless. eere are two imperatives, one is photo find out e formation necessary to protect the country, and cond is we need to prote

ambassador none of this happens but for the decision of your inspector general michael atkinson a man who was appointed by president trump and confirmed by a republican senate to come to this committee 7 days after the complaint was required by law to be transmitted to us it was his decision personal decision not the kaleidoscope of fantabulous to conspiracy theories the ranking member thinks is happening here but it was the decision of michael atkinson an appointee of this president to come to this committee following not advice from you or any law but following his own conscience without his decision to do this none of this is happening correct. i applaud michael i applaud michael's the way he has done this he has acted in good faith he has followed the law every step of the way the question is congressman does it get it or did it not meet the legal definition no no so i asked a very different question which was without his decision it it's it's a simple question without his decision none of this is happening is that correct well we've got a back up to the whistleblower as well so o

atkinson does. director, were you ever advised by the white house not to provide this complaint to congress for any reason? >> no, congressman. >> okay. and as i understand it, the opinion was that you were not obligated to convey, despite the very clear wording of the law, to convey the complaint to congress. so the decision was taken to defy a subpoena of this congress, the subpoena of september 17th, to turn over the complaint who made the decision to defy that subpoena of september 17th. >> congressman, urgent concern -- >> i'm asking a simple question. who made the decision to defy the congressional subpoena? somebody said we will not abide by this subpoena and i would like to know who that somebody was. >> congressman, nobody did. i endeavored once we no longer had urgent concern with the seven-day timeline to work to get the information to the committee. what i needed to do was to get work through the executive privilege hurdles with the office of legal counsel at the white house. although th

atkinson. and mr. atkinson has treated this thing in the proper way and passed it within a seven-day period to the acting director, who's sitting on it. now, this is on its face a clear violation of the statute. so what could mr. maguire be saying as to why he isn't doing this? or what could the justice department be saying to him? you know, it's either they say two things. one is this is none of the i.g.'s business. and that's silly. and i'll tell you why, lawrence. the statute gives the i.g. two different responsibilities. one is the responsibility to investigate certain things within the intelligence community. the other is to report certain things that come to his attention, whether he investigated them or not. that's what this is about. so when the white house or the justice department says that the i.g. has no business investigating this matter, it's beyond his remitt, that's irrelevant. this is a matter that pertains to the operations and administration of the intelligence community, and that's

atkinson does. director, were you ever advised by the white house not to provide this complaint to congress for any reason? no, congressman. >> and as i understand it, the opinion was that you were not obligated to convey -- despite the very clear wording of the law, to convey the complaint to congress. so the decision was taken to defy a subpoena of this congress, the subpoena of september 17th to turn over the complaint. who made the decision to defy that subpoena of september 17th? >> congressman, urgent concern -- >> sir, i'm asking you a very simple question. who made the decision to defy the congressional subpoena? somebody said we will not abide by this subpoena and i'd like to know who that was. >> congressman, nobody did. i endeavored, once we no longer had urgent concern with the seven-day timeline to get the information to the committee. what i needed to do was work through the executive privilege hurdles with the office of legal counsel at the white house. although this was the most impo

atkinson does. director, were you ever advised by the white house not to provide this complaint to congress for any reason? director maguire: no. rep. himes: as i understand it, the opinion was that you were not obligated to convey, despite the clear wording of the law, to convey the complaint to congress. defy aision was taken to subpoena of this congress to turn over the complaint. who made the decision to defy the subpoena? director maguire: urgent concerns -- rep. himes: i am making a simple question, who made the decision to defy the congressional subpoena. somebody said we would not comply. director maguire: nobody did, i endeavored, once we no longer had urgent concern with the seven day timeline to work to get the information to the committee. what i needed to do was to get work through the executive privilege hurdles with the office of legal counsel at the white house. although this was the most important issue to me, the white house has quite a few other issues that they were dealing with.

michael atkinson. democrats are clearly indignant they were not told about the complaint in the first place and that officials are still decline to reveal details about it at all. chairman adam schiff suggesting a short time ago that this is a completely unprecedented effort to illegally withhold information from congress, efforts that could reach all the way to the white house. >> we can't get an answer because the department of justice and director of national intelligence will not authorize the ig to tell us. and the inspector general is doing his very best to be very careful that he follow the law. i believe that there is an effort to prevent this information getting to congress, and if the assertion is accurate that department of justice made and dni affirmed that this involves a privileged communication, then at one level or another, it likely involves the president or people around him. >> now, atkinson, the inspector general, is expected to brief the senate intelligence committee on this issue

atkinson, also the inspector general for his courage in coming forward to congress. you mentioned you believe the whistleblower's report is credible, the whistleblower is credible, that the whistleblower acted in good faith. you have had a chance now as we have and i believe the american people have an opportunity to review the whistleblower complaint in the transcript that was released of the phone call between the president of the united states and the president of the ukraine. you have read both documents by, now have a new? >> yes, congressman. >> would you say that the whistleblower's complaint is remarkably consistent with the transcript that was released? >> i would say there was some of the war is complaint is in alignment with what was released yesterday by the president. >> okay, i want to read you a quick section of both to underscore exactly how accurately inconsistent this complaint is. on page two of the whistleblower's complaint, the whistleblower says, according to the white house officials who had direct knowledge of the call, the president pressured

atkinson which is where this all started, atkinson files it with the acting director of national intelligence. atkinson alerts congress this exists, that's how we got to where we are. a lot of these other players, john bolton is gone, but this could be the key right here. john bolton removed by donald trump as the a.mbassador to the united nations. he disagreed with what some in the trump's administration could be. bolton could wind up testifying on all this. we reported on the shaky ground. still the favorite son of donald trump. figuratively, not literally. volker is someone who you should keep an eye on, he's going to testify this week, he was the special envoy to the ukraine, he helped giuliani set up some of this. this is a guy we don't know that much about they shed a bunch of light. >> chris cillizza, thank you very much. >>> clinton, nixon and trump all three subjects, with each man facing the allegations in a different way. what sort of strategy can we expect from this white house, next? if you have moderate to thsevere rheumatoid arthritis, month after month, the clock is ticking on

but he also had a briefing the intelligence many and i heard from the inspector general, michael atkinson, what do we expect and how do we expect it to go forward? >> they are somewhat at the mercy of the house. they are also trying very hard to maintain a sense of bipartisanship. they've done that throughout their investigation with russia and other sensitive subjects. i don't expect to hear very much from them but they are going to try, the republicans on the committee talk about the gravity of what they are learning, cut through the partisanship and noise we usually hear. >> we are hearing about the interview with the leader mitch mcconnell, telling him about having no choice but to conduct a trial to determine whether the president should be removed from office. should they move in that direction? as best you can from give us a general sense have a timeline in terms of impeachment may proceed. >> we started hearing toward the end of this week was the house wants to move quickly while they have momentum and they believe the unity around this episode with ukraine, that could take a matt

today, the intelligence community's inspector general, mike at atkinson was not allowed to share details about the complaint to the house intelligence committee because he had not been authorized by mcguire's office. >> why were you not able to get an answer today about whether or not the white house intervened and an answer about the substance of the complaint? >> we can't get an answer because the department of justice and the director of national intelligence will not authorize the ig to tell us. and the inspector general is doing his very best, being very careful that he follow the law. >> reporter: the controversy has gathered new steam after a "washington post" report that an official in the american intelligence community was so bothered by a promise trump made to a foreign leader that a fo formal whistleblower complaint was filed. prior to the filing on august 12th, white house records showed that trump had spoken to or interacted with several foreign leaders, including russian president vladimir putin and north korean dictator kim jong-un. the inspector general deemed it credibl

atkinson wrote, i set forth the reasons for my concluding the subject matter and the complainant of this disclosure relates to one of the most significant and important of the responsibilities to the american people. this is what is being withheld from congress. we do know the department of justice has been involved in the decision to withhold that information from congress. we do not know because we cannot get an answer to the question about if the white house is also involved in preventing this information from coming to congress. have the complaint. we do not know if the press reports are accurate or inaccurate without the contents of that complaint, but what i do is in a matter within the jurisdiction of the director of national intelligence to have an employee of that community makes a complaint and it is possible for the subject of that complaint to essentially quash the complaint or keep it from congress, then the system is broken. is written very clearly. i think the law is just fine. we are determined to do everything we can to determine what this urgent concern is to make sure

atkinson also found reason to believe that the whistle-blower may not support the reelection of mr. trump and made clear that the complainant was not in a position to directly listen to the call or see the memo that reconstructed it before it was made public. today the white house released its notes from that call between trump and the ukranian president zelensky. that was made on july 25, exactly two months ago. the document, which is not a verbatim transcript, but is based on notes and recollections of a conversation, the document confirms reports that trump asked for an investigation of joe biden and his son. trump in the conversation reminds zelensky, quote, we do a lot for ukraine. we spend a lot of effort and a lot of time. the united states has been very, very good to ukraine. the response from zelensky, we are ready to continue to cooperate for the next steps. specifically we are almost ready to buy more javelins, that means anti-tank missiles from the united states for defense purposes. trump said, i would like a favor, though. i would like you to tell us what happened in u

atkinson reportedly agreed that the concern was credible and troubling enough to alert congressional oversight committees, but acting director of national intelligence joseph maguire has refused to share details of the complaint with lawmakers. atkinson is scheduled to answer questions in a closed-door session of the house intelligence committee today. it's not clclear which worldd leader's conversation with trump prompted the complaint. "the post" reports trump spoke with five world leaders during the time period covered, including russian president vladimir putin and north korean leader kim jong-un. president trump has named robert o'brien as his fourth national security advisor after ousting john bolton from the role last week. o'brien is author of the 2016 book "while america slept: restoring american leadership to a world in crisis," a collection of essays promoting hawkish u.s. foreign policy. o'brien is a long-time associate of secretary of state mike pompeo and previously served as the top u.s. hostage negotiator. in july, president trump sent o'brien to sweden to win the rel

intelligence, joseph mcguire, as well as the inspector general for the entill against community, michael atkinson to learn more about their role in this process. that's exactly how this matter should be handled, with care by the rules, would i say by the book, and to make sure that everybody's rights are protected before people begin to cast unjustified and slanderous allegations. our friends in the house, the house democrats aren't just fanning flames here, they've been pouring gasoline out for months through their baseless oversight hearings and all-out obsession with the mueller investigation which ended up with a big belly flop. yesterday speaker pelosi lit the match and there's no turning back now. the american people have made abundantly clear that this sort of partisan exercise is not what we want. especially with the other important work that we're not going to be able to accomplish because of this obsession with eliminating president trump. in a poll this summer, only 34% of texans supported impeachment. while so much remains in the air, this move has made one thing clear, our house coll

. >> well, schiff's committee met today with inspector atkinson. he's bound by orders of his superior not to. i'm joined by congressman danny heck of washington state, and contributor mulligan has held senior positions in the doj, and the office of director of national intelligence itself. let me start with ken our guy. this had to have reached a threshold, urgent concern. what would that embody that would cause the inspector general's office to get ahold of a complaint that reaches to the level of urgency and should be law be told to congress immediately. >> there's actually a legal definition. it's supposed to involve intelligence activities and it's extremely rare because there's a lot of complaints that go into that office. very few of them are deemed urgent concerns. and when he made that determination to the inspector general that should have triggered, and he was saying i wanted to turn this over and i was blocked by doing so by acting maquire. it was a doj ruling that said there's some privileged communications here. since it's about the pr

>> we need to note that atkinson previously spoke to congress. however, the complaint had not come out. all he could say was that he could not share the contents of the complaint. now, we have the complaint in all its entirety. it is being used as a road map for these congressional -- for the hearing going forward. what we're going to learn from him is basically what were the steps taken to make sure the information is credible? just as we're hearing from trump, his aides and allies that this person isn't credible as well. what we'll hear from atkinson -- or, rather, what the congressmen and women who will be in the room are going to be pushing him on is the credibility of the whistle-blower complaint. >> look at us today, where we are. backtrack to 11 days ago when the reporting first came out. we've seen nancy pelosi and other democrats pivot. when it comes to the time, let's listen to nancy pelosi about how quickly the impeachment inquiry can happen. >> i think that we should move with purpose and expeditiously. not hastily though. it doesn't

in letters to congress, atkinson said that he wants to tell them badly.ecause the matter relates to, quote, one of the most significant and important of dni's responsibilities to the american peel. but joseph mcguire and officials at the justice department basically overruled him. the ig told congress he was not being allowed to even tell them the general subject matter of these allegations. which we now know is the president. a former u.s. intelligence official told nbc news that, quote, this urgent concern involves a phone conversation by president trump. the "washington post" reports that it involves presidential communications with a foreign leader and some kind of a promise. the president via twitter did not deny the reporting saying anytime i speak on the phone to a foreign leader, i understand that there may be many people listening from various u.s. agencies, not to mention those from the other country itself. adding knowing all of this, is anybody dumb enough to believe that i would say something inappropriate? after meeting with inspector genera

atkinson. you got answers to none of the questions laid out for us?no, we got answers to a great many questions. he got answers to this is first time a director of national intelligence has everth ld a complaint from congress. whether credible or not, the practice has always been to provide it to congress. here it was found to be t credible, urgent and unprecedented to be deprived this way. it was also clear from e testimony that the department of justice has weighed in in a way that it never has before in a whistleblower complaint. it's also clear, i think, that the issue is not the classification of the intelligence. many people have said, well, other presiden have asserted at they have the right to declassify intelligence or provide classified information to the congress. that's apparently nothe issue either. and, so, the question is why is this being wthheld from congress? is this an effort to cover up impropriety? who does the complaint invve? and st seriously, if this is urgent and they're not allngowig ss to deal with it andng they're not allow

now democrats have specific questions they want to ask atkinson. that's going to be behind closed doo doors. on friday, kurt volker will appear behind close doors to talk to the house of committee of what happened here. he was mentioned in the complaint. at the same time republicans are trying to push back and defend the president including the house, kevin mccartnhy who said this on "60-minutes" yesterday. >> president zelensky says we are ready to buy more javelin and president trump replies "i would like you to do me a favor though." >> you just added another word. >> when i read the transcri transcript -- >> kevin mccarthy told me that the ukraine presiden president -- transcript reveals that the president was the first person who brought up investigating biden in that phone call. that's according to the white house. rough transcript that came out last week. republicans are trying to push back and defend the president and calling it in their view of hearsay. will the whistleblower come to capitol hill? adam schiff believes it is going to happen

absolutely committed to protecting the anonymity of this individual as well as making sure that michael atkinson who is our i.c. i.g. continues to be able to his do his job and fed it but i think that with that i certainly have to be proactive in my communications with my team mr chairman i yield back the time i may just not have misconstrued thank you chairman thank you director mcguire for your testimony today i want to say thank you also to the whistleblower for having the courage in the bravery to come forward on behalf of the nation thank you mr achatz and also the inspector general for his courage and coming forward to congress you mentioned that you believe that the whistleblowers report is is credible with the whistleblowers credible that the whistleblower acted in good faith you had a chance now as we have and i believe the american people have had an opportunity to review both the whistleblower complaint and the transcript that was released of the phone call between the president of the united states in the present ukraine you've read both documents by now haven't you yes congressman w

atkinson also the inspector general. the courage in coming to congress. you mentioned that you believe that the whistleblower his report is credible, that the whistleblower is credible that the whistleblower acted in good faith, you had a chance now as we have and i believe the american people have, and an opportunity to review both whistleblower complaint and the transcript that was released of the phone call between the president of the united states to the president of ukraine. you've read both documents by now having to push and more. >> yes >> would you say the whistleblower his complaint is remarkably consistent with the transcript that was released? >> i would say that the whistleblowers complaint is in alignment with what was released yesterday by the president. >> unregenerate quick section of both to -underscore exactly how accurate and consistent this complaint is. on page two of the whistleblowers complaint, the whistleblower says according to the white house officials who had direct knowledge of the call, the president pressured mr. bill zeli

inspector general michael atkinson last month. a source says the whistleblower said president trump. press the ukrainian president in a july 25th phone call to investigate former vice president joe biden's son hunter acquires appearance before the senate intelligence committee will be a closed door briefing. atkinson will also brief the committee acquires also scheduled for an open appearance on thursday before the house intelligence committee. >>look outside right now as we talk about our 4 zone forecast to hear is the bay bridge along the embarcadero in san francisco little bit cooler today, but still not cool. >>cooler and a little quieter tonight as they aroined meteorologist mabrisa rodriguez, a certainly was a little cooler than yesterday though. >>yes, especially along the coast, we actually cool down to near average but still a few degrees above normal for most of our interior valleys. 5 degrees above normal for livermore concord and even santa rosa, you cool down into the upper 80's but for downtown san francisco. 2 degre

intelligence community, michael atkinson saying the national director of intelligence is keeping him from executing two of his most important duties and responsibilities. white house, acting director of national intelligence have blocked atkinson from sharing with congress details of a whistleblower complaint which could involve communications between president trump and a foreign leader, according to three sources. cnn's alex marquchl uardt kicks off our coverage. >> reporter: a deadlock over an unseen, potentially explosive complaint by a member of the intelligence community about the president that in communications between a foreign leader and president trump he, according to the washington post, had made that leader a promise. what he allegedly promised is unknown, as is who the foreign leader was. but it was enough of a blockbuster claim for the intelligence community inspector general to feel forced going to congress, claiming that the whistleblower complaint is being blocked by the white house, and office of director of national intelligence because they believe it's not an i

>> well, certainly michael atkinson, the inspector general of the intelligence community, felt it didt definition, and certainly sometimes on difficult legal issues reasonable minds can differ including reasonable legal minds including those of the department of justice lawyers at the office of legal counsel. those lawyers wrote the opinion that the complaint, the topic of the complaint, did not involve the funding or administration of intelligence activities and the subject of the complaint, that being the president, was not a member of the intelligence community. it was a very, i would say sort of technical reading of the words of the statute to say that this is not something that is within dni, is the director of national symbol ens intelligence's purview and requirement to send to congress. mr. atkinson disagreed, persistent and continued to ask for guidance so it could get to congress, he felt it was important to get to congress and asked for guidance from the director of national intelligence on how to ensure that this report would get to congress. >> does this complaint warrant

atkinson deemed the whist whistle-blower complaint credible and urgent. he declined to reveal to the lawmakers the substance of the complaint. the president has said he's done nothing wrong. but he's not said the complaint should go to congress for investigation. today the president said the whistle-blower is partisan, but then said he doesn't know who it is. john roberts reporting live from the white house. john? >> good afternoon, shep. the president insists that this is all a political hack job as you pointed out saying the whistle-blower is partisan. the president was talking with scott morrison, the australian prime minister in the oval office about this. the president insisted that all of his conversations with world leaders are completely appropriate. listen here. >> the partisan whistle-blower. shouldn't even have information. i had conversations with many leaders, always appropriate. anything i do i fight for this country. i fight so strongly for this country. it's just another political hack job. that's all. >> the house speaker nancy pelosi rel

it was might atkinson who labeled this whistleblower, quote, an urgent concern. atkinson so far providing no details about the whistleblower or the specifics of the complaint. what we do know, cnn confirming, "washington post" reporting from last night that an intelligence community official red-flagged a communication between president trump and a foreign leader. two intelligence officials telling the "washington post" that the communication included a, quote, promise so troubling it sparked the still unnamed and unknown official to file that formal complaint. we don't know the leader or the alleged subject matter. we do know the inspector general told congress of the complaint after the director of national intelligence ignored a deadline for notifying lawmakers about such issues. let's get straight up to capitol hill and cnn's manu raju. the i.g. agreed to come before the committee but apparently not agreed to say anything. >> yeah, he is laying out the process for how he handled this complaint, i am told, but he is not getting into the substance of that compl