JUST IN: NY Times says Schiff knew about ‘whistleblower’ complaint BEFORE it was filed – [UPDATE: TRUMP RESPONDS]

by The Right Scoop

The New York Times is reporting this afternoon that Schiff knew about the so-called whistleblower complaint before the complaint was ever filed with the ICIG:

NY TIMES – The Democratic head of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, learned about the outlines of a C.I.A. officer’s concerns that President Trump had abused his power days before the officer filed a whistle-blower complaint, according to a spokesman and current and former American officials.

Before going to Congress, the C.I.A. officer had a colleague convey his accusations to the agency’s top lawyer. Concerned about how that avenue for airing his allegations was unfolding, the officer then approached a House Intelligence Committee aide, alerting him to the accusation against Mr. Trump. In both cases, the original accusation was vague.

The House staff member, following the committee’s procedures, suggested the officer find a lawyer to advise him and file a whistle-blower complaint. The aide shared some of what the officer conveyed to Mr. Schiff. The aide did not share the whistle-blower’s identity with Mr. Schiff, an official said.

Why didn’t Schiff admit this before now?

Schiff’s spokesman plays the reporting down, of course, suggesting they didn’t do anything wrong:

“Like other whistle-blowers have done before and since under Republican and Democratic-controlled committees, the whistle-blower contacted the committee for guidance on how to report possible wrongdoing within the jurisdiction of the intelligence community,” said Patrick Boland, a spokesman for Mr. Schiff.

Well it looks like Fred Fleitz was correct when he suggested that the complaint was a coordinated effort:

Now the NY Times only suggested a minimal amount of coordination, saying that the Intel Committee staffer only told him to get a lawyer and file a whistleblower complaint. But I wouldn’t be surprised at all to find out there was much more coordination – in fact I expect it. Because if Schiff knew, then guess who else knew…

Note that the NY Times is already trying to undermine Trump’s take on this before he even puts it out there saying that Trump “is likely to use the revelation that the C.I.A. officer first approached the committee to try to undermine the complaint and suggest it was part of a Democratic plot against him.” Well gosh, that’s exactly what this looks like.

 
UPDATE: Trump has now responded to the new report…


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