Fired by 73-year-old President Donald Trump April 3, 55-year-old Inspector General for the Intelligence Community Michael Atkinson, Democrats rushed to his defense. Trump dismissed Atkinson for his role in determining that a credible “whistleblower” complaint was made about Trump’s July 25, 2019 phone call with 40-year-old Ukrainian President Zoldymyr Zelensky. Democrats’ alleged that Trump abused his office by pressuring Zelensky to dig up dirt of former Vice President Joe Biden and his 50-year-old son, Hunter. Democrats investigated and filed two impeachment articles Dec. 18, 2019, alleging abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Trump was acquitted on both charges Feb. 5. Inspector General of the Intelligence Community erred in his judgment saying a “whistleblower” complaint against Trump was valid.
Atkinson’s assessment couldn’t have been right because the U.S. Senate voted 52-48 on Article 1 and 53-47 on Article 2 to acquit Trump. Atkinson said Trump exposed himself in his July 25 call with Zelensky to “serious national security and counterintelligence risks.” How could that be if the entire impeachment process was voted along partisan lines, with only one Republican, 73-year-old Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Ut.) voting with Democrats on Article 1? Romney retaliated against Trump for a longstanding vendetta, once calling Trump a “fraud and con man” when Trump ran for president in 2016. Atkinson’s showed poor judgment validating a “whistleblower” complaint when he never met the ‘whistleblower,” nor did Atkinson investigate the “whistleblower’s” credibility. Any cursory review would have alerted Atkinson about the extreme partisan bias.
Democrats immediately rushed to Atkinson’s defense, defending their failed impeachment case against Trump. “He’s decapitating the leadership of the intelligence community in the middle of a national crisis,” said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and lead impeachment manager. Schiff pleaded with the Senate to no avail, when they gave thumbs down on his impeachment case against Trump. Schiff, one of the most partisan, anti-Trump Democrats on Capitol Hill, looks for any excuse to get Trump, calling for a Sept. 11-type commission to investigate Trump’s handling of the coronavirus epidemic. “It’s unconscionable and of course it sends a message throughout the federal government and particular other inspector generals,” Schiff said. Schiff finds everything objectionable about Trump and the Republican Party.
Schiff and the entire Democrat leadership team led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had 100% confidence in former FBI Director James Comey’s counterintelligence investigation into alleged Russian ties with Trump and his 2016 presidential campaign. Schiff completely ignores Department of Justice Inspector General [IG] Michael Horowitz who issued his report to Congress Dec. 8, 2019, saying that he found serious errors in the FBI’s applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA] Court to wiretap Trump and his campaign. Yet Schiff has the utmost confidence in Horowitz and Comey, even after Horowitz said Comey failed to meet minimum standards when he signed off on the FISA applications to investigate former Trump foreign policy aid Carter Page. Horowitz admonished the FBI April 2 for failing to follow Woods Procedures.
Yet if you ask Schiff, Comey and the FBI under his leadership did nothing wrong investigating Trump and his campaign. Schiff was outraged June 9, 2017 when Trump fired Comey for being a “dirty cop,” leading the media’s about wild speculation about Trump’s Russian ties. Schiff screamed that Trump “obstructed justice” firing Comey, interfering in the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation. Schiff applauded when Rosenstein appointed former FBI Diector Robert Mueller to investigate Trump’s alleged Russian ties. Schiff accused Trump for two years of trying to fire Mueller to “obstruct justice,” while Mueller spent 22 months and $40 million investigating Trump. Mueller concluded in his Final Report that Trump or his campaign did not conspire with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election.
Schiff’s outraged at Atkinson’s dismissal, after Atkinson erred in his judgment validating the ‘whistleblower” complaint. Atkinson should have asked to interview the “whistleblower” to ascertain credibility. Schiff lied about saying he had no contact with a the “whistleblower.” “We have not spoken with the whistleblower,” Schiff told MSNBC Sept. 17. 2019. Less than one month later Oct. 3,2019 Schiff admitted his office did in fact have contact with the whistleblower. Atkinison, in has oversight capacity as IG for the intelligence community, should have asked Schiff about his committees contacts with the whistleblower before “validating” the complaint. “When you speak truth to power you should be a hero, but in this administration when you speak truth to power all too often you get fired,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), another one of Trump’s biggest Democrat detractors.
