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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released a trove of declassified documents Monday, revealing the flimsy work, biased evidence and lack of first-hand accounts the former intelligence community inspector general used to advance the 2019 impeachment of President Trump.
Michael Atkinson, the former IC inspector general, did not follow proper procedures, according to Gabbard, before he sent a whistleblower’s complaint about Trump’s infamous July 2019 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Congress — which formed the basis of congressional Democrats’ first failed Trump impeachment effort.
“Deep state actors within the Intelligence Community concocted a false narrative that was used by Congress to usurp the will of the American people and impeach the duly-elected President of the United States,” Gabbard said in a statement.
“Inspector General Atkinson failed to uphold his responsibility to the American people, putting political motivations over the truth,” she continued. “And this, along with the politicization of the whistleblower process by a former CIA employee who was working hand in glove with Democrats in Congress, are egregious examples of the deep state playbook on how to weaponize the Intelligence Community.”
Key witness didn’t hear the phone call
The DNI found Atkinson interviewed only four people, including the whistleblower, during his 2019 investigation – none of whom had first-hand knowledge of Trump’s call with Zelensky.
One interviewee was described by Gabbard’s office as a “friend” of the whistleblower who “was a co-author of the January 2017 Russia Hoax Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) and close colleague of disgraced former FBI Agent Peter Strzok.”
The other two “character references” questioned by Atkinson “had zero firsthand knowledge of the July 2019 phone call.
“Despite a lack of any firsthand evidence, IC IG Atkinson proceeded to take actions to weaponize the Whistleblower process and exceed his statutory jurisdiction by ignoring Department of Justice guidance and relying on only second-hand testimony to ensure the whistleblower complaint was released to Congress, referred to the FBI and leaked to the propaganda media,” Gabbard’s office said.
Whistleblower may have been biased
Atkinson testified before the House Intelligence Committee that he “never considered the whistleblower to be politically biased,” despite information gleaned during his interviews that suggests otherwise.
The whistleblower admitted to speaking with Democrats in Congress about Trump’s phone call before submitting the complaint to the inspector general, according to Gabbard.
Atkinson also noted in his memo after interviewing the whistleblower that “Complainant is a registered democrat.”
The whistleblower further noted they “worked closely with Vice President Biden as an expert on Ukraine” and “travelled with Biden to Ukraine and was part of conversations where [Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy] LUTSENKO corruption was discussed.”
Atkinson “weaponized” whistleblower process
Gabbard found the IC inspector general “willfully exceeded his statutory jurisdiction” to label the phone call complaint as an “urgent concern” for Congress.
Atkinson “ignored” guidance from the Justice Department indicating that the complaint did not meet the “urgent concern” threshold, since it did not relate to “the funding, administration, or operation of an intelligence activity.”
The IG also sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department – relying solely on second-hand knowledge of the phone call – which the DOJ later assessed contained no basis for a criminal case against Trump.
Atkinson further “failed to conduct basic due diligence,” according to Gabbard, including by never requesting access to a transcript of Trump’s call with Zelensky.
Gabbard’s office notes the Atkinson sought out “unprecedented assistance” from other government agency IGs to proceed with the investigation of Trump in the event he was stopped.
Finally, the DNI notes the intelligence community’s Office of the Inspector General “altered the whistleblower form within months” of Trump’s call with Zelensky to “no longer require firsthand knowledge as a prerequisite for reporting complaints.”
After Atkinson’s 14-day preliminary investigation, then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) used “this false, second-hand narrative to create media intrigue and ultimately spark” the impeachment trial of Trump.
Trump was acquitted by the end of the impeachment trial.
“Exposing these tactics and showing how they undermine the fabric of our democratic republic furthers the critical cause of transparency and accountability and will help prevent future abuse of power,” Gabbard said.
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