House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes has some questions about why top secret and confidential phone calls made by President Trump to foreign leaders keep leaking -- to the press and Democrats on Capitol Hill.
.@DevinNunes grills DNI Joe MaGuire over not just whistleblower complaint of @realDonaldTrump Ukraine call, but other leaks of the President's private conversations.
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) September 26, 2019
"Is it normal for the president to have their conversations leak out? This is the third time," Nunes said. pic.twitter.com/pRTsVVJpMv
Rep. Devin Nunes: "Did anybody -- you or anybody in your office -- leak this to the Washington Post or NBC News?"
— The Hill (@thehill) September 26, 2019
Joseph Maguire: "Ranking member, I lead the intelligence community. We know how to keep a secret." pic.twitter.com/IEMQLIJjxi
In the whistleblower complaint, the individual says they heard from a number of White House officials, in this case, alleged leakers, about a phone call President Trump had with the president of Ukraine.
"Multiple White House officials with direct knowledge of the call informed me that, after an initial exchange of pleasantries, the President used the remainder of the call to advance his personal interests. Namely, he sought to pressure the Ukrainian leader to take actions to help the President's 2020 election bid. According to the White House officials who had direct knowledge of the call, the President pressured Mr. Zelensky," the complaint states.
If this claim is true, who in the White House or the intelligence agencies is sending out the information? Or is this claim being falsely made in the complaint to further sow distrust among staff at the White House? Which of course cripples President Trump's ability to conduct foreign policy.
The transcript of the call proves otherwise. President Trump never asked for a personal favor from President Zelensky. Further, Zelensky said yesterday at the United Nations General Assembly that he was never pressured or pushed to do anything.
"I don't want to be involved in the election of the USA. I think we had a good phone call. It was normal and we spoke about many things," Zelensky said. "You read it [the call transcript]. Nobody pushed."