When key members of Congress finally had an overdue opportunity to review a whistleblower complaint against Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, they quickly noticed a problem: The document was heavily redacted, making it clear that her office hadn’t exactly embraced full transparency, despite laws related to her office and congressional disclosures.
Any chance lawmakers will get the whole story from the administration? Evidently not. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, based on its review of an email sent to Democratic congressional staffers:
The Trump administration told Congress it won’t share with lawmakers the classified intelligence that led to a whistleblower complaint against U.S. spy chief Tulsi Gabbard, citing presidential claims of executive privilege.
In an email to Democratic congressional staffers sent on Feb. 13 and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Gabbard’s office said it was unable to provide the unredacted intelligence that underpinned the complaint ‘due to the assertion of executive privilege to portions’ of the intelligence itself.
Though the Journal’s reporting hasn’t been independently verified by MS NOW, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia and Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrats on the congressional intelligence committees, effectively confirmed the story by writing to the DNI this week, asking who asserted privilege over the intelligence report and on what basis.
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