Whistleblower wants to appear before Congress, Dems say

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Congress might soon get a chance to hear directly from the whistleblower who filed a formal complaint involving President Donald Trump’s communications with foreign leaders.

A lawyer for the whistleblower, who lodged the complaint to the Intelligence Community’s Inspector General in early August, has been in touch with both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees regarding potential testimony, according to the panel’s top Democrats.

“The lawyer for the whistleblower has reached out for a counsel meeting but we’re going to have to take this one step a time,” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told POLITICO on Tuesday. “And I think it’s terribly important to get the facts.”

The committee is “taking all this one step at a time," Warner said. "What we want is an orderly process where the full committee will get a chance to hear from both the IC inspector general and the acting DNI Adm. [Joseph] McGuire.”

Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, separately tweeted on Tuesday that the panel had “been informed by the whistleblower’s counsel that their client would like to speak to our committee and has requested guidance from the Acting DNI as to how to do so.” He added: “We‘re in touch with counsel and look forward to the whistleblower’s testimony as soon as this week.”

Lawyers for the whistleblower did not return requests for comment.

It remains to be seen whether Maguire provides that guidance. The acting DNI has been unwilling so far to hand over the substance of the complaint to the intelligence committees, despite intelligence community watchdog Michael Atkinson deeming the information “urgent” and credible.

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