US President Donald Trump suggested that he fired the inspector general for the intelligence community in retaliation for impeachment, saying the official was wrong to provide an anonymous whistle-blower complaint to Congress as the law requires.
Trump called Michael Atkinson a “disgrace” after informing Congress late on Friday night that he intended to fire him.
In letters to the US House of Representatives and Senate intelligence committees, Trump wrote that he had lost confidence in Atkinson, but gave little detail.
Photo: Bloomberg
On Saturday, Trump was blunter, telling reporters at the White House: “I thought he did a terrible job, absolutely terrible.”
“He took a fake report and he took it to Congress with an emergency, OK? Not a big Trump fan, that I can tell you,” Trump added.
The whistle-blower report was not fake, but a detailed complaint written by an anonymous intelligence official who described Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to investigate former US vice president Joe Biden and his son.
Atkinson determined the complaint was urgent and credible and therefore was required by law to disclose it to Congress, but he was overruled for weeks by the acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire.
After a firestorm sparked by media reports of the complaint, it was turned over and made public.
A congressional inquiry led to Trump’s impeachment by the House in December last year. The Republican-led Senate acquitted Trump in February.
On Saturday, Trump questioned why Atkinson did not speak to him about the complaint, though Atkinson’s role is to provide independent oversight.
“Never came in to see me, never requested to see me,” Trump said. “That man is a disgrace to IGs.”
Atkinson’s removal is part of a larger shakeup of the intelligence community under Trump, who has always viewed intelligence professionals with skepticism.
His ouster came under immediate fire from Democrats and a handful of Republicans.
US Senator Chuck Grassley, the Republican who leads the Finance Committee, said that Congress has been “crystal clear” that written reasons must be given when inspectors general are removed for a lack of confidence.
“More details are needed from the administration,” Grassley said.
Senator Susan Collins, a Republican member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she did not find Trump’s reasoning in his Friday letter to be persuasive, and said Atkinson’s removal “was not warranted.”
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, a Republican, said an inspector general “must be allowed to conduct his or her work independent of internal or external pressure.”
Trump’s criticism on Saturday came after Atkinson’s peers had rushed to his defense.
US Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz said Atkinson was known for his “integrity, professionalism and commitment to the rule of law and independent oversight.”
He said that included Atkinson’s actions in handling the Ukraine whistle-blower complaint.
Asked during his daily coronavirus briefing about firing Atkinson, Trump returned to his attacks on the Democratic-led impeachment investigation and trial and his defense that his telephone call with Ukraine’s president was “perfect” but had been inaccurately described in the whistle-blower’s account.
In fact, the partial transcript later released by the president largely supported the whistle-blower’s account.
Atkinson is at least the seventh intelligence official to be fired, ousted or moved aside since last summer.
In his letters to the intelligence committees informing them of the firing, which were obtained by reporters, Trump said that it is “vital” that he has confidence in the appointees serving as inspectors general, and “that is no longer the case with regard to this inspector general.”
Trump said Atkinson would be removed from office in 30 days, the required amount of time he must wait after informing Congress, adding that he would nominate an individual “who has my full confidence” at a later date.
According to two congressional officials, Atkinson has been placed on administrative leave, meaning he would not serve out the 30 days.
One of the officials said Atkinson was only informed of his removal on Friday night.
The top Democrat on the Senate intelligence panel, Senator Mark Warner, said it was unconscionable that Trump would fire Atkinson in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We should all be deeply disturbed by ongoing attempts to politicize the nation’s intelligence agencies,” Warner said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the firing “threatens to have a chilling effect against all willing to speak truth to power.”
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