Page 35 - Intelligence Committees News Today

Think its impeachment material? >> well, i think the jurys still out in my mind, don. look, i was on the air just a couple days ago saying that the whistle-blower has to get to the intelligence committees, and then the next day i saw the senate said it should go there. look, when you read this, when you read this whole narrative, it makes you sick, okay? the question is -- heres what i think. we have to go in order. i heard the congresswoman just a little bit ago say we have a long way to go. we...

Intelligence committees. is it clear to you that the president was asking for a favor and there was a quid pro quo, even if it may have been unspoken? >> its completely clear to me that the president was asking for a favor. he says it explicitly in the transcripts that he was asking for a favor from -- even in order to speak with the president he said he needed to. he needed to bring up this issue about joe biden and his son. so to me you dont have to have an explicit you do this and then i will...

In a u.s. election? >> i think he has behaved absolutely inappropriately, and im more than deeply disturbed. you know, mitt romney said hes disturbed. hes very disturbed. im more than disturbed. i think this is really outrageous. >> is that an abuse of power? >> you know, i dont want to get into -- well, do i think it was abuse of his power there? yes. >> so how is it not an impeachable offense, then? >> because, don, youve got to go through the steps to determine. because of one phone call, do ...

Democrat who represent as swing district in california. shes also vice chair of the house oversight committee. youve read the rough transcript of -- that was released by the white house. you havent seen the whistle blower complaint because thats limited to intelligence committees. is it clear to you that the president was asking for a favor and there was a quid pro quo. >> it was clear the president is asking for a favor. he says it explicitly in the transcript he was asking for a favor from -- ...

Couldnt be clearer. it states upon receiving such an urgent complaint from the inspector general you, the director of national intelligence, quote, shall end quote forward it to the intel committees within seven days, no ifs, ands or buts. even when the i.g. has found complaint to be urgent or even credible your office has consistently transmitted those complaints to the intelligence committees. is that right, sir? >> congressman carson, in the past even if they were not a matter of urgent conce...

Declassified and this is why this is important. when joe mcguire, acting director of national intelligence went before the committee there are questions, how much he can say in open form. thats one of the biggest points here, maybe they had to declassified is to explore this and a robust fashion. the other questions going into the hearing, what is the role of the dni in the whistleblower complaint and could the dnis is the credibility of the whistleblower. i talked to a number of members from bo...

Director of national intelligence goes before the committee tomorrow, there are questions about how much you can say in open form. thats one of the biggest points here, so maybe they had to declassified us so they could explore this in a robust fashion. here are the other questions going into the hearing tomorrow, what is the role of the dni in the whistle-blower complaint, and could they dni assess the credibility of the whistle-blower? i talked to a number of the members from both sides of the...

Complaint to the intelligence committees. >> it was not stonewalling. i didnt receive direction from anybody. i was just trying to work for the process and the law the way it was written. i have to comply with the way the law is, not the way some people would like it to be. >> bret: your take on today? >> so everything comes down to a phone call and there are two parts to this. the first is the phone call that donald trump is alleged to have made, involves solicitation, acceptance or receiving a...

Director of national intelligence and the president. >> do i have your assurance that the whistle-blower will be able to testify fully and freely and enjoy the protections of the law? >> yes, congressman. >> lawmakers had this to say about what we learned today. >> we are profoundly concerned with the breakdown of this whistle-blower system. that has been manifest over the last month. that a whistle-blower who was deemed credible, had a complaint that was deemed urgent that a complaint that was ...

That congress that this very committee drafted couldnt be clearer. it states that upon receiving such ap urgent complaint from the inspector general, you, the director of national intelligence, quote, shall end quote, forward it to the intel committees within seven days, no ifs, and or but, and even when the ig has found complaints not to be an urgent concern or credible, your office has consistently and uniformly still transmitted those complaints to the intelligence committees, is that right, ...