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East Oregonian
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Trump defends himself against whistleblower complaint
By MARY CLARE
JALONICK AND LISA
MASCARO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
President Donald Trump
defended
himself
Fri-
day against a whistleblow-
er’s complaint including a
reported private conversa-
tion he had with a foreign
leader.
The complaint, which the
administration has refused to
let Congress see, is “serious”
and “urgent,” the govern-
ment’s intelligence watch-
dog said. But Trump said
he’s done nothing wrong.
Some of the whistleblow-
er’s allegations appear to
center on Ukraine, accord-
ing to The Washington Post
and The New York Times.
The newspapers cited anon-
ymous sources familiar with
the matter. The Associated
Press has not confirmed the
reports.
In a tweet Friday, Trump
did not reference Ukraine
or any other country, but
said “there was nothing
said wrong.” He tweeted
about “the perfectly fine and
respectful conversation.”
The standoff raises fresh
questions about the extent
to which Trump’s allies are
protecting the Republican
president from oversight
and, specifically, whether
his new acting director of
national intelligence, Joseph
Maguire, is working with the
Justice Department to shield
the president from the reach
of Congress.
It also plunged the Trump
administration into an
extraordinary
showdown
with Congress over access
to the whistleblower’s com-
plaint as lawmakers press
their oversight of the execu-
tive branch.
The administration is
keeping Congress from even
learning what exactly the
whistleblower is alleging,
but the intelligence commu-
nity’s inspector general said
the matter involves the “most
significant” responsibilities
of intelligence leadership. A
lawmaker said the complaint
was “based on a series of
events.”
The inspector general
appeared before the House
intelligence
committee
behind closed doors Thurs-
day but declined, under
administration orders, to
reveal to members the sub-
stance of the complaint.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Ca-
lif., the chairman of the
House Intelligence Com-
mittee, said he was prepared
to go to court to try to force
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff,
D-California, speaks to reporters after the panel met be-
hind closed doors with national intelligence inspector gen-
eral Michael Atkinson about a whistleblower complaint, at
the Capitol in Washington on Thursday.
the Trump administration to
open up about the complaint.
“The inspector general
has said this cannot wait,”
said Schiff, describing the
administration’s blockade
as an unprecedented depar-
ture from law. “There’s an
urgency here that I think the
courts will recognize.”
Schiff said he, too, could
not confirm whether news-
paper reports were accu-
rate because the administra-
tion was claiming executive
privilege in withholding the
complaint. But letters from
the inspector general to the
committee released Thurs-
day said it was an “urgent”
matter of “serious or flagrant
abuse” that must be shared
with lawmakers.
The letters also made it
clear that Maguire consulted
with the Justice Department
in deciding not to trans-
mit the complaint to Con-
gress in a further departure
from standard procedure. It’s
unclear whether the White
House was also involved,
Schiff said.
Because the administra-
tion is claiming the infor-
mation is privileged, Schiff
said he believes the whis-
tleblower’s complaint “likely
involves the president or
people around him.”
Trump on Thursday dis-
missed it all, noting that oth-
ers would be aware of the
call.
“Is anybody dumb enough
to believe that I would say
something
inappropriate
with a foreign leader while
on such a potentially ‘heav-
ily populated’ call.”
House Democrats are
fighting the administration
separately for access to wit-
nesses and documents in
impeachment probes. Dem-
ocrats are also looking into
whether Trump lawyer Rudy
Giuliani traveled to Ukraine
to pressure the government
to aid the president’s reelec-
tion effort by investigating
the activities of potential
rival Joe Biden’s son Hunter,
who worked for a Ukrainian
gas company.
During an interview
Thursday on CNN, Giuliani
was asked whether he had
asked Ukraine to look into
Biden. Giuliani initially said,
“No, actually I didn’t,” but
seconds later he said, “Of
course I did.”
Giuliani told CNN that
Trump was unaware of his
actions.
“I did what I did on my
own,” Giuliani said. “I told
him about it afterward.”
Later, Giuliani tweeted,
“A President telling a Pres-
elect of a well known corrupt
country he better investigate
corruption that affects US is
doing his job.”
Among the materials
Democrats have sought is
a transcript of a phone call
Trump had with Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zel-
enskiy on July 25.
This new situation, stem-
ming from the whistleblow-
er’s Aug. 12 complaint, has
led to Democratic lawmak-
ers’ public concern that gov-
ernment intelligence agen-
cies and the recently named
acting director might be
under pressure to withhold
information from Congress.
Trump named Maguire, a
former Navy official, as act-
ing intelligence director last
month, after the departure
of Director Dan Coats, a for-
mer Republican senator who
often clashed with the pres-
ident, and the retirement of
Sue Gordon, a career profes-
sional in the No. 2 position.
Maguire has refused to
discuss details of the whis-
tleblower complaint, but he
has been subpoenaed by the
House panel and is expected
to testify publicly next
Thursday. Maguire and the
inspector general, Michael
Atkinson, also are expected
next week at the Senate intel-
ligence committee.
U.S., El Salvador sign migrant asylum deal, but details vague
By COLLEEN LONG
AND ASTRID GALVAN
Associated Press
NEW YORK — The
United States on Friday
signed an agreement to help
make one of Central Ameri-
ca’s most violent countries, El
Salvador, a haven for migrants
seeking asylum, but provided
few details about how it will
unfold.
Acting Homeland Security
Secretary Kevin McAleenan
and El Salvador’s foreign min-
ister, Alexandra Hill Tinoco,
signed the “cooperative asy-
lum agreement” in a live-
streamed press conference.
They lauded the two countries
for working together to stem
migration to the U.S. but pro-
vided few details about when
the agreement takes effect,
who is affected and how.
Instead, McAleenan, who
called the agreement “a big
step forward,” and Hill Tinoco
discussed U.S. assistance in
making El Salvador a safer
and more prosperous place for
its citizens. Hill Tinoco talked
about ending gang violence.
“I mean, those individ-
uals threaten people, those
individuals kill people, those
individuals request for the
poorest and most vulnerable
population to pay just to cross
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the street,” she said, adding
that her country needs more
investment from the U.S. and
other nations.
The agreement, first
reported by The Associated
Press, could lead to migrants
from third countries obtain-
ing refuge in El Salvador even
though many Salvadorans
are fleeing their nation and
seeking asylum in the United
States. A Salvadoran delega-
tion has been in the U.S. this
week to discuss the matter.
McAleenan said the agree-
ment advanced El Salvador’s
commitment to developing
an asylum framework, with
help from the U.N. High
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Commissioner for Refugees.
“This will build on the
good work we have accom-
plished already with El Salva-
dor’s neighbor, Guatemala, in
building protection capacity
to try to further our efforts to
provide opportunities to seek
protection for political, racial,
religious or social group per-
secution as close as possible to
the origin of individuals that
need it,” McAleenan said.
It’s the latest effort by
President Donald Trump’s
administration to force asy-
lum-seekers in Central Amer-
ica to seek refuge outside the
United States. Immigration
officials also are forcing more
than 42,000 people to remain
in Mexico as their cases play
out and have changed pol-
icy to deny asylum to anyone
who transited through a third
country en route to the south-
ern border of the U.S.
Condemnation
from
migrant and refugee advo-
cates was swift.
“Today’s announcement of
a ‘cooperative asylum agree-
ment’ between the United
States and El Salvador is yet
another example of the U.S.
government’s callous disre-
gard for the safety and lives
of people fleeing violence in
Central America,” said Alison
Parker, managing director for
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Rights Watch. “El Salvador
does not have the capacity to
keep its own nationals safe,
much less migrants from any
other country.” Parker added
that only 18 people are seek-
ing asylum inside El Salvador.
The agreement would
be another step by the
Trump
administration
aimed at stopping the flow
of migrants into the United
States. McAleenan also
signed a so-called ”safe
third country” agreement
with Guatemala, but offi-
cials in that country are still
working out how it would
be implemented.
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