Intel chief shreds GOP talking point: Whistleblower complaint aligns with Trump memo

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee Thursday attempted to dismiss as unreliable a whistleblower complaint about Donald Trump’s apparently illegal attempt to solicit election help from the Ukrainian president ahead of the 2020 election, stating the information was all secondhand. But amid careful questioning by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Trump’s acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire effectively quashed that argument.

During the hearing, intended to address the complaint, Castro noted that Maguire had called both the whistleblower the whistleblower’s letter credible. He noted that Trump had released a memorandum of a July 25 call transcript with his Ukrainian counterpart — one of the conversations that apparently triggered the whistleblower’s decision to speak up — which aligned with the concerns in the letter itself.

“You’ve had a chance now— as we have and I believe the American people have — had an opportunity to review both the whistleblower complaint and the [partial] transcript that was released of the phone call between the president of the United States and the president of the Ukraine. You’ve read both documents by now, haven’t you?” Castro asked.

After Maguire confirmed that he had, Castro pushed further. “Would you say that the whistleblower’s complaint is remarkably consistent with the transcript that was released?” he asked Trump’s handpicked intelligence head.

“I would say that the whistleblower’s complaint is in alignment with what was released yesterday by the president,” he conceded.