My brain racing with thoughts from the DNI hearing, my mind goes to that familiar place of frustration: Oh how I wish someone had asked this, and this, and this.
Now Adam Schiff was magnificent. His translation of Trump’s shakedown into mob-speak was a masterpiece. We need that clip on a loop. And I cheered every time he stopped himself from saying “dig up dirt on a political opponent…” and corrected it to “manufacture dirt.”
But so many things I wish he’d also thought to say and ask, one line of questioning in particular. I can think of no way to get it out of my system except to type it up and post it here.
Play along with me, and add your own I-wish-someone-had-asked thoughts.
Oh how I wish he’d said, how I wish he’d asked:
DNI Maguire, you had in front of you a serious whistleblower complaint, one that detailed not only crimes, but far more importantly, a serious risk to this country’s national security. The bad actors were the president of the United States and Attorney General William Barr. But instead of taking the complaint to the Intelligence Committee, as the law required, you took it to the very criminals who were, at that very moment, carrying out their vicious plot.
What did you expect President Trump and AG Barr would do with the complaint you brought them? Common sense alone, you knew the perps would direct you to bury it. But you had more than common sense to guide you, didn’t you? From the report itself, you knew these criminals had gone to extraordinary lengths to hide the evidence of their crime.
Did it come as a surprise to you then, when AG Barr, and the WH OLC, advised you that no, no, this report cannot go to Congress. This whistleblower is not covered by the statute. Here, here’s an opinion penned by the Attorney General, just coincidentally one of the criminals implicated in this plot, laying out his learned analysis of the whistleblower statute. An analysis you parroted in your opening statement.
You keep saying you didn’t have the authority to disclose communications covered by executive privilege. You also didn’t have the authority to hold this information back from Congress. To resolve the conflict, you let the criminals direct you how to proceed. Then you sat back, told yourself you had no choice, you were bound by the AG’s opinion.
You weren’t just following orders you knew to be corrupt. You sought out those orders. You chose to let the bad actors tie your hands.
You rationalize your actions by insisting that you’d ensured that the crimes outlined in the complaint would be investigated by the Department of Justice. Really? The department headed by the same criminal who told you to ignore your obligation to deliver the complaint to Congress? Did it come as a surprise to you that, of all the serious crimes implicated in this scheme, only the least of these, campaign finance violations, was referred for investigation? Did it come as a surprise to you that AG Barr’s DoJ concluded that, nope, even that was not a crime?
But it’s worse than that. DNI Maguire, you are the Director of National Intelligence. You of all people would know that the reason a whistleblower complaint is to be turned over to Congress, with great speed, is not because it discloses potential crimes, but because it warns of an urgent risk to the nation’s security.
You knew how dire the situation was. Notwithstanding AG Barr’s parsing of the statutory term “urgent,” which you also dutifully parroted in this hearing, you know what “urgent” means. And you knew exactly the urgency. The aid on which our vulnerable ally depended would be lost if not approved by September 30. What went through your head, as you watched the days tick by, with that screaming deadline looming?
So far as you knew, the way you’d handled this complaint, one of three things would happen.
Possibility 1) Ukraine’s desperate president would cave. You would soon hear on the news that Ukraine was opening an investigation into Vice-President Biden and his son Hunter. Two decent men would be smeared by lies. Oh, and also, the 2020 election would be tainted by a disinformation campaign concocted by our own president and attorney general, and effected through extortion.
Possibility 2) Ukraine would stand strong, and lose the aid. Did you ever picture yourself watching the evening news, video of Russian tanks rolling into Kiev, Ukrainian soldiers dying?
Possibility 3) The last possibility is that the whistleblower would also be watching the calendar. Would know that either Ukraine’s future, or the integrity of the 2020 election, was on the line. And he would put himself at risk, would leak the critical information you refused to deliver to Congress, without the protection of the whistleblower statute.
You say you care about the men and women who serve under you. You know how vindictive President Trump is, you’ve seen him ruin how many careers? You’ve seen AG Barr open criminal investigations over the slightest wrongs, targeting dedicated public servants, people worth ten of Trump and Barr. Did that picture ever flash into your mind? This brave whistleblower outed, fired, prosecuted? His identity disclosed, his family subjected to threats and harassment?
As you sit there, you have repeatedly pointed to the fact that the whistleblower complaint has come to light; the aid to Ukraine has been released; the whistleblower’s identity protected. You say this as if you can take credit for the good result. You know the good result only came about because of other brave people, who leaked to the press, putting themselves at risk. It came about in spite of the actions you took, actions that enabled the criminals to hide their plot against America. A corrupt scheme they very nearly got away with.
You owe the whistleblower, and the leakers, and this country, an apology. I would like to hear that apology right now.
Or perhaps it is I who owe you the apology. Are you the leaker? If so, then I congratulate you, thank you profusely—and wish you luck in your future endeavors, soon-to-be ex-DNI Maguire.