On this episode of the CAFE Insider podcast, "Whistleblower Uproar," co-hosts Preet Bharara and Anne Milgram break down the troubling reports that President Trump pressed Ukraine’s new president to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, and then blocked Congress from seeing a whistleblower complaint that allegedly details a “promise” Trump made to a foreign leader.
They also discuss former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski’s revealing testimony last week before the House Judiciary Committee.
REFERENCES & SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS
THE WHISTLEBLOWER COMPLAINT
BATTLE FOR WHISTLEBLOWER’S COMPLAINT
- 50 U.S. Code § 3033: Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, Legal Information Institute
- Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (IGIC) Michael Atkinson’s first letter to the House Intelligence Committee regarding a withheld whistleblower complaint, 9/9/19
- IGIC Atkinson’s second letter to the House Intelligence Committee articulating his disagreement with the determination by the acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire that the whistleblower complaint should not be disclosed to Congress, 9/17/19
- House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s letter to acting DNI Maguire requesting the whistleblower complaint, 9/10/19
- Chairman Schiff’s subpoena and accompanying letter issued to acting DNI Maguire to compel disclosure of the whistleblower complaint, 9/13/19
- General Counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) Jason Klitenic’s letter to Chairman Schiff stating that despite Schiff’s subpoena, Acting DNI Joseph Maguire would not testify nor immediately provide the whistleblower complaint to the Committee, 9/17/19
- Utah Senator Mitt Romney’s tweet about Trump’s alleged actions, 9/22/19
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Statement on Whistleblower Complaint, 9/20/19
- “Three House Committees Launch Wide-Ranging Investigation into Trump-Giuliani Ukraine Scheme,” House Intelligence Committee press release, 9/9/19
- “Acting intelligence chief agrees to testify after subpoena,” Washington Post, 9/18/19
COVERAGE & ANALYSIS
- "Trump's communications with foreign leader are part of whistleblower complaint that spurred standoff between spy chief and Congress, former officials say," Washington Post, 9/18/19
- "Whistleblower complaint about President Trump involves Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the matter," Washington Post, 9/19/19
- “The Mysterious Whistleblower Complaint: What Is Adam Schiff Talking About?,” Lawfare, 9/17/19
- Lawfare’s Jack Goldsmith’s twitter thread, 9/19/19
- “Trump Repeatedly Pressed Ukraine President to Investigate Biden’s Son,” Wall Street Journal, 9/21/19
- “Whistle-Blower Complaint Is Said to Involve Trump and Ukraine,” New York Times, 9/19/19
- “How the DNI-Congress feud puts intelligence and democracy in danger,” Washington Post, 9/19/19
- “Why the alleged Joe Biden ‘Ukraine conspiracy’ doesn’t hold up,” Washington Post, 5/8/19
- “Timeline in Ukraine Probe Casts Doubt on Giuliani’s Biden Claim,” Bloomberg, 5/7/19
- “Trump’s freeze on Ukraine aid draws new scrutiny amid push for Biden investigation,” Washington Post, 9/20/19
- “The Witness and the Whistleblower: Some Thoughts,” Lawfare, 9/20/19
- “As Trump Confirms He Discussed Biden With Ukraine, Pressure to Impeach Builds,” New York Times, 9/22/19
ADMINISTRATION’S RESPONSE
- “Remarks by President Trump Before Marine One Departure,” White House, 9/22/19
- Trump’s “pitch perfect” tweet, 9/20/19
- “Giuliani admits to asking Ukraine about Joe Biden after denying it 30 seconds earlier,” Washington Post, 9/20/19
- CNN’s Jake Tapper interview with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, CNN, 9/22/19
COREY LEWANDOWSKI
- “Corey Lewandowski Testimony Before House Judiciary Committee,” C-SPAN, 9/17/19
- “Key Moments From Corey Lewandowski’s Testimony Before Congress,” New York Times, 9/17/19
- “It was chaos, and then a real lawyer showed up,” Washington Post, 9/18/19
- Stay Tuned episode with Garry Kasparov and transcript
