The Trump whistleblower may not be a whistleblower at all

Johnny

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Sep 21, 2019, 3:56:54 PM9/21/19

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By Gregg Jarrett
Published 23 hours ago

The latest media mass hysteria over a whistleblower’s complaint that,
according to FoxNews.com “reportedly involved allegations President
Trump made a troubling and unspecified ‘promise’ to a foreign leader,”
is based on precious little information. That has not stopped
journalists from convicting Trump in the court of public opinion and
predicting his imminent demise.

Who exactly is this unidentified “whistleblower”? What is the specific
nature of his or her “urgent concern” complaint against the president?
Does this complaint really qualify under the Intelligence Community
Whistleblower Protection Act (ICWPA)? These are just a few of the most
fundamental questions that remain largely unknown.

Despite the paucity of facts, some reasonable observations and
conclusions can be drawn.

It appears that an American spy in one of our intelligence agencies
may have been spying on our own president. The complaint suggests
that this intel agent was listening in on Trump’s conversation with
a foreign leader. Was this person officially asked to listen to
the conversation or was he or she secretly listening in? We don’t
know. This agent, who is an unelected and inferior federal employee
in the government hierarchy, apparently believes that it is his/her
job to second-guess the motivation behind the words of the elected
president, who is the most superior officer in the U.S. government.
Article II of the Constitution gives the president sweeping power
to conduct foreign affairs, negotiate with leaders of other
nations, make demands or offer promises. The Constitution does not
grant the power of review, approval or disapproval to spies or
other unelected officials in the executive branch. The ICWPA law
defines the parameters of an “urgent concern” complaint as an abuse
or violation of law “relating to the funding, administration, or
operations of an intelligence activity involving classified
information, but does not include differences of opinions
concerning public policy matters.” The president’s conversation
with a foreign leader does not seem to fall under this
whistleblower definition. It appears the acting Director of
National Intelligence (DNI) agrees with this assessment. His
agency’s general counsel wrote a letter stating the complaint did
not meet the ICWPA definition because it involved conduct “from
someone outside the intel community and did not relate to
intelligence activity,” according to a report by Fox News. This is
why the DNI refused to forward the complaint to congress.

To put this in plain language, a spy who allegedly spied on the
president does not have a legitimate whistleblower complaint against
that president under the law. The ICWPA is a mechanism to report
alleged misconduct by members within the intelligence community, of
which the president is not. Yes, the alphabet soup of intel agencies
ultimately report to the president, but that does not make Trump a
member of that community and subject to its rules of conduct.

So, it turns out that the “whistleblower” may not be a whistleblower at
all. But you will not hear that from the mainstream media. They are too
busy lighting their own hair on fire.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/gregg-jarrett-trump-whistleblower

wolfbat359

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Sep 21, 2019, 4:14:21 PM9/21/19

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All Trump needs to do is release the document. It is the duty of a such an agent to monitor such communications!

CLOISTER

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Sep 21, 2019, 4:26:02 PM9/21/19

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The story is that a Democrat Presidential candidate wanted to
expose Joe Biden's son and it has nothing to do with Pres Trump
at all.

Johnny

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Sep 21, 2019, 4:28:05 PM9/21/19

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But the agent can't claim whistleblower status, because the president
is outside the Intelligence Community. Trump will fire him.

Congress will probably never hear the phone conversation, because Trump
can claim executive privilege.

Josh Rosenbluth

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Sep 21, 2019, 5:25:02 PM9/21/19

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The mainstream media has accurately reported that the whistleblower
properly brought his concern to the Inspector General who thought the
concern was legitimate. The head of the DNI disagreed and chose to
withhold the information from Congress. Everything else Jarret talks
about is speculation on his part.

The open question is how to determine whether the Inspector General or
the head of the DNI is right. What do you suggest?

Johnny

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Sep 21, 2019, 5:35:46 PM9/21/19

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Ask the Attorney General.

Josh Rosenbluth

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Sep 21, 2019, 5:37:12 PM9/21/19

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The AG is biased.

Johnny

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Sep 21, 2019, 5:46:06 PM9/21/19

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On Sat, 21 Sep 2019 14:37:08 -0700

Who could decide that is not biased? A district judge in the ninth
circuit court of appeals?

CLOISTER

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Sep 21, 2019, 5:49:57 PM9/21/19

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When will guys stop chasing windmills? This is another
one of those fake news stories. But it is entertaining
to see all the great intelligent guesses about a unicorn.

Josh Rosenbluth

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Sep 21, 2019, 5:52:30 PM9/21/19

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Congress which consists of Democrats and Republicans. The whole point
of the whistleblower law is not leave the decision in the hands of the
people who the whistle was blown on.

Johnny

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Sep 21, 2019, 6:16:12 PM9/21/19

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On Sat, 21 Sep 2019 14:52:26 -0700

The council for the Director of National Intelligence wrote a letter
stating the person was not a whistleblower according the definition
provided in the ICWPA.

If that letter was provided to Congress, they should be investigating
it right now.

Josh Rosenbluth

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Sep 21, 2019, 6:34:48 PM9/21/19

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They can't properly investigate it because the head of the DNI, who is
on the team that the whistle was blown in, is withholding the original
complaint.

Johnny

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Sep 21, 2019, 6:44:27 PM9/21/19

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On Sat, 21 Sep 2019 15:34:46 -0700

It could be determined if the person is a whistleblower or not without
knowing what the conversation was about.

Josh Rosenbluth

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Sep 21, 2019, 7:09:06 PM9/21/19

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How? You need to know the details of the complaint in order to evaluate it.

Johnny

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Sep 21, 2019, 7:30:07 PM9/21/19

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On Sat, 21 Sep 2019 16:09:03 -0700

community and did not relate to intelligence activity,”.

Is that true? Is the presidents conduct off limits to a whistleblower,
because he is outside the intel community.

It seems to me that could be determined.

Josh Rosenbluth

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Sep 22, 2019, 1:50:43 AM9/22/19

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You'd still have to know the details of the complaint to find out.