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Whistleblower accuses Trump of soliciting foreign aid to meddle in 2020 election – live Whistleblower accuses Trump of covering up bid to seek Ukraine's help in 2020 election – live
(32 minutes later)
Nunes asked Maguire if he knew how news of the whistleblower complaint was leaked to the press, wondering if the acting director of national intelligence’s office had spread the information.
Maguire defended his office, asserting that the leak did not come from the intelligence community.
Maguire said with a smile: “I lead the intelligence community. We know how to keep a secret.”
The top Republican on the committee, Devin Nunes, has started his questioning of the acting director of national intelligence.
Nunes asked Maguire whether he knew of any other instances of intelligence chiefs testifying about a whistleblower complaint. It appeared the California Republican was trying to set up an argument that Democrats are practicing an historic overreach of power.
But Maguire somewhat threw cold water on that line of questioning, asserting that his unusual testimony matches the “unprecedented” situation before them.
Maguire is clearly intent on trying not to say anything that comes off as political, but that has put him in a tight corner given Trump’s disparaging comments about the whistleblower.
Asked by Schiff whether he thought the whistleblower was a “political hack,” as Trump asserted, Maguire defended the person’s actions. He said the whistleblower was “acting in good faith,” but avoided provided a yes or answer to Schiff’s question.
Under repeated questioning, Maguire eventually told Schiff, “I think the whistleblower did the right thing,”
Maguire is doing everything he can to avoid answering Adam Schiff’s questions head-on.
Asked whether the White House invoked executive privilege on the whistleblower complaint, Maguire tried to dodge the question before seeming to say that the White House did not invoke executive privilege, given the release of yesterday’s memo.
Schiff went on to ask Maguire whether he first went to the White House with concerns about the whistleblower complaint. Maguire eventually, after much dodging, acknowledged that he first went to the White House Office of Legal Counsel to determine whether there were executive privilege concerns with the complaint.
Adam Schiff has kicked off the House intelligence committee’s questioning by asking Maguire whether the whistleblower complaint represented a serious abuse of power by Trump.
Maguire danced around the question, trying to avoid saying whether he considered the complaint to be “credible.”
“It’s not for me to judge,” Maguire said.
Maguire expressed confidence that the inspector general and the whistleblower “have acted in good faith” and had done everything “by the book”.
Noting the executive privilege issues with the complaint, Maguire said, “I believe that this matter is unprecedented.”
Maguire is defending his actions regarding the whistleblower complaint, saying the White House office told his office that the Ukraine phone call was protected by executive privilege.
The House intelligence committee’s Democratic chairman, Adam Schiff, criticized Maguire in his opening statement for not immediately sharing the whistleblower complaint with the panel.
As Maguire continues to deliver his opening statement, a Republican on the House intelligence committee criticized Adam Schiff for including “fake dialogue” between Trump and the Ukrainian president in his opening statement.
It is disturbing and outrageous that Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff opens up a hearing of this importance with improvised fake dialogue between President Trump and President Zelenskyy. We should focus on the facts.
Schiff said in his opening statement: “In essence, what the President Trump communicates is this: We’ve been very good to your country. Very good. No other country has done as much as we have. ...
“And I’m going to say this only seven times, so you better listen good. I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand? Lots of dirt, on this and on that.”
Schiff was exaggerating Trump’s phone call with Zelenskiy to underscore his argument that the president’s actions were similar to those of a mob boss.
Maguire began his opening statement by applauding the work of the House intelligence committee and stressing that his ultimate loyalty is to the Constitution.Maguire began his opening statement by applauding the work of the House intelligence committee and stressing that his ultimate loyalty is to the Constitution.
“I am not partisan, and I am not political,” Maguire told the committee, noting that he has served under eight presidents and taken the oath of the Constitution 11 times.“I am not partisan, and I am not political,” Maguire told the committee, noting that he has served under eight presidents and taken the oath of the Constitution 11 times.
NEW: Rep. Adam Schiff to Acting DNI Joseph Maguire: "In our limited interactions we have had since you became director...you have struck me as a good and decent man. Which makes your actions over the last month all the more bewildering." https://t.co/fUBRdsHDCG pic.twitter.com/b9BpqId7U3NEW: Rep. Adam Schiff to Acting DNI Joseph Maguire: "In our limited interactions we have had since you became director...you have struck me as a good and decent man. Which makes your actions over the last month all the more bewildering." https://t.co/fUBRdsHDCG pic.twitter.com/b9BpqId7U3
Joseph Maguire has been sworn in and is now making his opening statement.Joseph Maguire has been sworn in and is now making his opening statement.
Adam Schiff, jumping the gun a bit, initially tried to jump right into questioning – apparently forgetting that the acting director of national intelligence intended to deliver an opening statement.Adam Schiff, jumping the gun a bit, initially tried to jump right into questioning – apparently forgetting that the acting director of national intelligence intended to deliver an opening statement.
Nunes also used his opening statement to accuse reporters of engaging in a conspiracy to oust Trump from office.
Rep Nunes is setting his own tone. He says Democrats and their "media assets" (He means reporters.) are out to get Pres. Trump with a "fake story" & doing "monumental damage." He claims, without evidence & explanation, that whistleblower complaint is another "Steele dossier."
The three major US broadcast networks have switched to live coverage of the hearing, demonstrating how historic many expect this event to become.
For the second day in a row, all three broadcast networks have ditched their regular programming to go live.
As Nunes dismisses the whistleblower complaint as a “hoax,” it’s worth noting that another Republican on the House intelligence committee, Will Hurd of Texas, has said he found the complaint “concerning.”
There is a lot in the whistleblower complaint that is concerning. We need to fully investigate all of the allegations addressed in the letter, and the first step is to talk to the whistleblower.
The top Republican on the House intelligence committee, Devin Nunes, is now delivering his opening statement.
The California Republican accused Democrats of promoting a campaign of “information warfare” against Trump.
Nunes sarcastically said he would “congratulate” his Democratic colleagues on opening a new line of inquiry against the president.
Schiff has turned his attention to the actions of Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence and the star of today’s hearing.
Schiff started by applauding Maguire’s long government record. But the committee chairman said that record made Maguire’s actions over the past month all the more “bewildering.”
He criticized Maguire for not making the whistleblower complaint immediately available and for conferring with the attorney general, William Barr, when he was implicated in the complaint.
Schiff once again compared Trump’s actions to those of a mob boss, arguing they represented a serious abuse of power.
“it would be funny if it wasn’t such a graphic betrayal of the president’s oath of office,” Schiff said of Trump’s comments to the Ukrainian president.
The House intelligence committee chairman asserted Trump’s actions were “the most consequential form of tragedy.” Schiff said the founders allowed a remedy for such a “flagrant abuse of office”: impeachment.
Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, said in his opening statement that Trump had “betrayed” his oath of office as president and threatened US national security.
Schiff argued the whistleblower complaint provided the most “graphic evidence yet” that Trump had violated the Constitution.
Schiff said: “If we do not defend the nation, there is no Constitution. But if we do not defend the Constitution, there is no nation worth defending.”
The whistleblower said that White House officials were “deeply disturbed” by what had transpired in the phone call between Trump and the Ukrainian president.
“They told me there was already a ‘discussion ongoing’ with White House lawyers about how to treat the call because of the likelihood, in the officials’ retelling, that they had witnesses the President abuse his office for personal gain,” the whistleblower wrote in the complaint.
The chairman of the House intelligence committee, Adam Schiff, has gaveled in the hearing with Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, on the whistleblower complaint.
The acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, has arrived to testify before the House intelligence committee.