Here we go again! House Intel Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) crawled out of his hole on Wednesday and said he received a ‘new whistleblower complaint’ alleging Russia is meddling in the election. Schiff claims the whistleblower complaint alleges serious misconduct by senior Trump Administration officials to politicize, manipulate and censor intelligence to benefit Trump:
- Improper Administration of an Intelligence Program and Abuse of Authority regarding Russian Influence
- Improper Administration of an Intelligence Program with respect to the Homeland Threat Assessment
- Improper Administration of an Intelligence Program regarding ANTIFA
- Perjured Testimony and Abuse of Authority
Whistleblower Brian Murphy, who was the principal deputy under secretary in the Office of Intelligence and Analysis at the DHS before he was demoted, says DHS chief Chad Wolf instructed him to withhold intel notifications on Russian meddling because ‘it made Trump look bad.’
Murphy also claims Wolf instructed him to focus more on efforts by Iran and China, but he refused to comply because “doing so would put the country in substantial and specific danger.”
Brian Murphy is being represented by swamp lawyer Mark Zaid — the same Mark Zaid who represented Ukraine impeachment whistleblower Eric Ciaramella!
Mark Zaid said in a statement that Brian Murphy had “followed proper lawful whistleblower rules in reporting serious allegations of misconduct against DHS leadership, particularly involving political distortion of intelligence analysis and retaliation.”
“We have alerted both the Executive and Legislative Branches of these allegations and we will appropriately cooperate with oversight investigations, especially in a classified setting,” Zaid said.
Our latest #whistleblower client #BrianMurphy followed all lawful procedures & filed IG complaint w/@DHSgov abt retaliation arising from, in part, his refusal to politicize intelligence reports.
Legal team includes: @BradMossEsq @AndrewBakaj @wbaidlaw https://t.co/zla2YvIIFe
— Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) September 9, 2020
The whistleblower reprisal complaint depicts a sustained and disturbing pattern of misconduct by senior Trump Administration officials within the White House and DHS relating to the activities of DHS’s I&A—an element of the U.S. Intelligence Community which Mr. Murphy led from May until August of this year, before he was reassigned to DHS’s Management Directorate, and where he previously served as Principal Deputy Under Secretary beginning in March 2018. The complaint alleges repeated violations of law and regulations, abuses of authority, attempted censorship of intelligence analysis, and improper administration of an intelligence program related to Russian efforts to influence the U.S. election.
“We’ve received a whistleblower complaint alleging DHS suppressed intel reports on Russian election interference, altered intel to match false Trump claims and made false statements to Congress,” Schiff said.
“This puts our national security at risk. We will investigate,’” he added.
We’ve received a whistleblower complaint alleging DHS suppressed intel reports on Russian election interference, altered intel to match false Trump claims and made false statements to Congress.
This puts our national security at risk. We will investigate:https://t.co/Z7npo3P6zv
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) September 9, 2020
Whistleblower Brian Murphy alleges Trump’s DHS attempted to censor intel analysis related to so-called Russian efforts to influence and undermine the US:
The complaint states that Mr. Murphy “made several protected disclosures between March 2018 and August 2020 regarding a repeated pattern of abuse of authority, attempted censorship of intelligence analysis and improper administration of an intelligence program related to Russian efforts to influence and undermine United States interests. The relevant officials at issue were Secretary [Kirstjen] Nielsen and Messrs. [Chad] Wolf, [Kenneth] Cuccinelli, [Miles] Taylor, and Acting Deputy Director for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Kash Patel.”
The complaint asserts that, in mid-May 2020, and while purporting to serve as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Mr. Chad Wolf “instructed Mr. Murphy to cease providing intelligence assessments on the threat of Russian interference in the United States, and instead start reporting on interference activities by China and Iran. Mr. Wolf stated that these instructions specifically originated from White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien. Mr. Murphy informed Mr. Wolf he would not comply with these instructions, as doing so would put the country in substantial and specific danger.”
“Mr. Murphy’s allegations are serious — from senior officials suppressing intelligence reports on Russia’s election interference and making false statements to Congress about terrorism threats at our southern border, to modifying intelligence assessments to match the President’s rhetoric on Antifa and minimizing the threat posed by white supremacists. We have requested Mr. Murphy’s testimony before the Committee, pursuant to subpoena if necessary, alongside other already scheduled interviews with other DHS officials.,” Schiff said in a statement.
“We will get to the bottom of this, expose any and all misconduct or corruption to the American people, and put a stop to the politicization of intelligence,” he added.
The DHS denied Murphy’s allegations in a statement to CBS News and said it “looks forward to the results of any resulting investigation and we expect it will conclude that no retaliatory action was taken against Mr. Murphy.”
“As Acting Secretary Wolf outlined in his State of the Homeland Address today, DHS is working to address all threats to the homeland regardless of ideology,” the spokesperson said. “The Acting Secretary is focused on thwarting election interference from any foreign powers and attacks from any extremist group.”
