Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire is expected to face a grilling from members of Congress on Thursday about a whistleblower complaint that centers on President Donald Trump and his interactions with Ukraine.
The complaint, which has led to an impeachment inquiry against Trump in the House, says that White House officials, concerned about what the president said in a July call with Ukraine’s new leader, intervened to “lock down” the transcript of the phone call.
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According to a congressional source, the complaint indicates concern over the handling of a memo of a controversial phone call Trump held in late July with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which the U.S. president asked the Ukrainian leader to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, who had business dealings in the country.
The whistleblower, whose name has not been released, says he lodged the formal complaint because he believed that Trump was “using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country” in the 2020 election.
The intelligence community’s inspector general deemed the complaint an “urgent concern” that he was required by law to provide to the congressional intelligence committees. But Maguire refused to do so on the advice of the Justice Department, resulting in a standoff with Congress that ultimately resulted in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi backing a formal impeachment inquiry against Trump.
A majority of the chamber’s 435 members now favor some kind of impeachment action against President Donald Trump, according to an NBC News tally.
Here’s what was said at the hearing minute by minute:
9:07 a.m.
Maguire entered and took his seat at the witness table and was surrounded by photographers.
The hearing room is at capacity for the public. A moment later, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., gaveled in the hearing and delivered an opening statement in which he said that the transcript of the July 25 call between Trump and Zelenskiy released Wednesday, as well as the whistleblower complaint released Thursday morning, were evidence that “the president of the United States has betrayed his oath of office.”
Schiff, who said he was pleased when Maguire was named to his position, asked the acting director of national intelligence several questions, including why he chose not to provide the complaint to the committee as required by law, why he went to the Department of Justice for guidance on the matter, and why he allowed the subject of the complaint to play a role in deciding whether Congress would see it.
9:22 a.m.
Schiff wraps up his statement by demanding to know why Maguire refused to turn the whistleblower complaint to Congress within a week, as was required by law.
Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the ranking Republican on the committee, delivered his statement next, and spent most of his time attacking Democrats for their “latest” use of “information warfare” against the president.
9:31 a.m.
Maguire, a retired Navy vice admiral who spent 36 years as a Navy SEAL, used much of his opening statement to discuss his long history in public service and to tell the committee.
“I am not partisan, and I am not political,” he said. He also said he supports the whistleblower “and the rights of all whistleblowers.”
Maguire then went through his timeline of events “that led us to the current” moment.
9:42 a.m.
Maguire, in his opening statement, explained that he did not immediately forward the complaint to congressional oversight committees within seven days, as is required under current intelligence community whistleblower laws, because the Office of Legal Counsel had concluded that the complaint did not meet the statutory requirement for him “to transmit (it) to the committee.”
He said his office had discussed the matter with White House Office of Legal Counsel and that he was advised that “much of the information in the complaint was in fact, subject to executive privilege — a privilege that I do not have the authority to waive.”
“I believe this matter is unprecedented,” Maguire added. “I also believe I handled this matter in full compliance with the law.”
9:50 a.m.
Schiff, initiating his questioning of Maguire, immediately asked whether the “complaint involved serious wrongdoing in this case by the president.”
Maguire responded that “it is not for me to decide” what constitutes wrongdoing by the president, but added, “yes, that is the subject of the allegation of this complaint.”
Maguire, under questioning about his timeline of events, again told Schiff, “I believe that everything in this matter is totally unprecedented.”
