Complainant went to Democrats for political help before filing complaint

Schiff got early account of fake complaint

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.

The C.I.A. officer approached a House Intelligence Committee aide with his concerns about Mr. Trump only after he had had a colleague first convey them to the C.I.A.’s top lawyer. Concerned about how that initial avenue for airing his allegations through the C.I.A. was unfolding, the officer then approached the House aide. 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 meet with an inspector general, with whom he could file a whistle-blower complaint. The aide shared some of what the officer conveyed to Mr. Schiff.

This is being reported by the NY Times, so there is no reason why liberals should question the claim. Conservative should probably question what was left out, but that is besides the point. More facts will come out. That is for sure.

But the allegations are that this intelligence official did not simply file a complaint which would then go to Congress, but rather he went to Democrats within Congress first, got their political advice, and then went back to file the complaint with the help of Attorneys tied to the Democratic Party.

This is back asswards from how the Intelligence community is trained and expected to handle a complaint like this. The only possible reason why he wouldn't have followed the legal and proper channels provided for him, is because of politics. If he really had questions on how to proceed, his first call should have been to an Inspector General, or to the Human Resources department of his company. The fact that he went outside the chain of command should probably get him fired and it may actually be flirting with breaking the law.

Certainly, he has sacrificed any form of legal protection as a so called whistle blower for not even being in the same vicinity as following the set guidelines.

The NY Times is attempting to frame this as if it is business as usual. As if most complainant first goes to Congress and that Congress has a preset "procedure" on how to help wayward complainants who have an odd difficulty understanding how to do this on his own? Either the complainant is a toddler who needed his hand held or he was someone looking to determine how to create the most political fodder. Perhaps this was all just a set up from the beginning.

Moreover, Adam Schiff has repeatedly stated that neither he or any Democrats had spoken to or had contact with the complainant (as this was alleged when the complaint first came out based on the way it was written). Turns out that on the subject of this complaint and the subsequent impeachment inquiry, Schiff not only makes up stuff during important hearings, but makes bald faced lies in direct responses to direct questions.

I strongly suspect that Democrats are now understanding that they cannot both protect this person's identity and be able to effectively move forward with any of his allegations. They are likely attempting to use their leaks to favorable media to get a leg up on the spin. But make no mistake, the fact that this guy went political, hired DNC lawyers, and that Schiff and others knew about this "prior" to the complaint being released is a big political problem for them, it exposes them as dishonest, and it undermines the entire basis of the complaint. Let's not even talk about how this damages the credibility of "impeaching" a sitting President over something this dishonest.

Once again Trump and the Republicans were correct in assuming that this was a political hit job from the beginning. This NY Times story confirms that (regardless of how they are trying to spin the bad news).