El Presidente just announced that he fired the dude that told Congress about the concerns over his Ukraine call that eventually led to the impeachment vote.
President Donald Trump has fired Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community who handled the whistleblower complaint that triggered Trump’s impeachment.
Trump informed the Senate intelligence committee Friday of his decision to fire Atkinson, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.
Trump said in the letter 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.”
Atkinson was the first to inform Congress about an anonymous whistleblower complaint last year that described Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to investigate Democrat Joe Biden and his son. That complaint prompted a House investigation that ultimately resulted in Trump’s impeachment.
As you can imagine, Democrats are losing it:
Trump’s dead of night decision to fire ICIG Michael Atkinson is another blatant attempt to gut the independence of the Intelligence Community and retaliate against those who dare to expose presidential wrongdoing.
It puts our country and national security at even greater risk. pic.twitter.com/Pnm7chdIkl
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) April 4, 2020
Michael Atkinson is a man of integrity who has served our nation for almost two decades. Being fired for having the courage to speak truth to power makes him a patriot. https://t.co/Gl3JtewXL0
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) April 4, 2020
And some reporters too:
Late on a Friday night, in the middle of a national emergency, Trump fires the IG who deemed the whistleblower complaint about his conduct with Ukraine both credible and urgent. Atkinson was appointed by Trump in 2018 and previously served at DOJ for 15 years https://t.co/cFFYzYeU87
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 4, 2020
We’ll have to see how this turns out, but just like Biden tried to hide his endorsement of Trump’s China travel ban on a late night Friday, this seems also something they don’t want to bring much attention to…
Here’s where it all started, way back in September 2019, which now seems like ten decades ago.