Donald Trump slams claims he made a troubling ‘promise’ to a foreign leader

Donald Trump has slammed claims he made a troubling ‘promise’ to a foreign leader but release of the whistleblower complaint is being blocked.

US President Donald Trump has slammed claims he made a troubling “promise” to an unidentified foreign leader.

The Trump administration was plunged into an extraordinary showdown with US politicians in Congress on Thursday (local time) about whether a formal whistleblower report containing the allegations should be released.

The intelligence community’s Inspector General Michael Atkinson told the US House Intelligence Committee in a letter that the complaint, which concerned a private conversation between Mr Trump and a foreign leader, was both “serious” and “urgent”.

However, the Government is keeping politicians from even learning what exactly the whistleblower is alleging.

Mr Atkinson said the matter involved the “most significant” responsibilities of intelligence leadership.

The Washington Post reported that it involved a promise Trump made in a phone call to a foreign leader. A politician said the complaint was “based on a series of events”.

Mr Atkinson appeared before the House intelligence committee behind closed doors on Thursday but declined, under administration orders, to reveal to members the substance of the complaint.

The standoff raises fresh questions about the extent to which Mr Trump’s allies are protecting the President from oversight and, specifically, if his new acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, is working with the Justice Department to shield the President from the reach of Congress.

Mr Trump has not provided details about any incident but denied on Thursday he would ever “say something inappropriate” on such a call.

“Is anybody dumb enough to believe I would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader while on such a potentially ‘heavily populated’ call,” he tweeted.

....Knowing all of this, is anybody dumb enough to believe that I would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader while on such a potentially “heavily populated” call. I would only do what is right anyway, and only do good for the USA!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2019

The chairman of the US House Intelligence Committee, Democrat Adam Schiff, said he was prepared to go to court to try to force the Trump administration to open up about the complaint.

“The inspector general has said this cannot wait,” said Mr Schiff, describing the administration’s blockade as an unprecedented departure from law.

“There’s an urgency here that I think the courts will recognise.”

The Washington Post reported the complaint involved an intelligence official’s allegation that Mr Trump made a promise to an unidentified foreign leader in a telephone call.

The Post cited two anonymous former US officials. The Associated Press has not confirmed the report.

Mr Schiff said he, too, could not confirm whether the Post report was accurate because the administration was claiming executive privilege in withholding the complaint.

But letters from the inspector general to the committee released on Thursday said it was an “urgent” matter of “serious or flagrant abuse” that must be shared with politicians.

The letters also made it clear that Mr Maguire consulted with the Justice Department in deciding not to transmit the complaint to Congress in a further departure from standard procedure.

It’s unclear whether the White House was also involved, Mr Schiff said. Because the administration is claiming the information is privileged, Mr Schiff said he believed the whistleblower’s complaint “likely involves the President or people around him.”

Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, speaks with reporters about a whistleblower complaint. Picture: Patrick Semansky/AP

INFORMATION IS ‘BEING KEPT’ FROM POLITICIANS

Democrat politicians in the House of Representatives are fighting the Trump administration separately for access to witnesses and documents in impeachment probes.

This new situation has led to their public concerns that government intelligence agencies and the recently named acting director might be under pressure to withhold information from Congress.

Mr Trump tapped Mr Maguire, a former Navy official, as acting intelligence director in August after the departure of Director Dan Coats, a former Republican senator who often clashed with the President, and the retirement of Sue Gordon, a career professional in the No. 2 position.

Mr Maguire has refused to discuss details of the whistleblower complaint, but he has been subpoenaed by the House panel and is expected to testify publicly next Thursday.

Both Mr Maguire and Mr Atkinson are also expected next week at the Senate intelligence committee.

Mr Atkinson wrote in letters that Mr Schiff released on Thursday that he and Mr Maguire had hit an “impasse” over the acting director’s decision not to share the complaint with Congress.

While Mr Atkinson wrote that he believed Mr Maguire’s position was in “good faith”, it did not appear to be consistent with past practice.

Mr Atkinson said he was told by the legal counsel for the intelligence director that the complaint did not meet the definition of an “urgent concern”. And he said the Justice Department said it did not fall under the director’s jurisdiction because it did not involve an intelligence professional.

Mr Atkinson said he disagreed with that Justice Department view.

The complaint “not only falls under DNI’s jurisdiction,” Mr Atkinson wrote, “but relates to one of the most significant and important (functions) of DNI’s responsibilities to the American people.”

He went on to say that he requested authorisation to at the very least disclose the “general subject matter” to the committee but had not been allowed to do so.

Mr Atkinson said the information was “being kept” from Congress. These decisions, the inspector general said, are affecting his execution of his duties and responsibilities.

US President Donald Trump has rejected reports about a concerning promise. Picture: Nicholas Kamm/AFP

IT COULD BE ‘VERY, VERY SERIOUS’

In calling the inspector general to testify, Mr Schiff said Mr Atkinson determined the whistleblower complaint was “credible and urgent” and should be “transmitted to Congress”.

Several politicians suggested the failure to disclose the complaint’s contents amounted to a failure to protect the whistleblower, another violation.

However, the general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Jason Klitenic, wrote in a letter on Tuesday to the committee that the agency was indeed protecting the whistleblower.

Democrat, Jim Himes said on MSNBC the acting director “broke the law when he decided to basically intercept the inspector general’s report to Congress”.

That’s “never been done before in the history of inspector general reports to the Congress”, Mr Himes said. “And the American people should be worried about that.”

“We don’t know exactly what is in the substance of this complaint. It could be nothing. It could be something very, very serious.”