Friday evening President Trump terminated Inspector General Michael Atkinson. Atkinson served as the Inspector General over the Intelligence Community.
In a letter to Congressman Adam Schiff (D) and Congressman Devin Nunes (R), Trump explained his decision:
“This is to advise that I am exercising my power as President to remove from office the Inspector General
…
I[…] have the power of appointment, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, is it vital that I have the fullest confidence in the appointee serving as Inspector General. That is no longer the case with regard to this Inspector General.”
The termination is effective 30 days from April 3rd.
Congressman Adam Schiff, who Trump has referred to as “Pencil Neck”, “Shifty Schiff”, and “Little Adam Schitt”, published Trump’s letter to Twitter:
Trump’s dead of night decision to fire ICIG Michael Atkinson is another blatant attempt to gut the independence of the Intelligence Community and retaliate against those who dare to expose presidential wrongdoing.
It puts our country and national security at even greater risk. pic.twitter.com/Pnm7chdIkl
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) April 4, 2020
Atkinson, a lawyer by trade, spent time in private practice and at the Justice Department before becoming Inspector General.
In a statement on Sunday, believes he was removed because of his handling of a whistleblower complaint:
The intelligence community watchdog removed abruptly late Friday by President Donald Trump says he believes Trump ousted him because of his evenhanded handling of a whistleblower complaint that ultimately led to the president’s impeachment.
…
Atkinson was the federal official who revealed to Congress in September the existence of a whistleblower complaint against Trump, which indicated that the president improperly pressured Ukraine to investigate his political rivals. When Atkinson sought to share that complaint with Congress under a federal whistleblower law, the White House and Justice Department intervened and blocked the transmission of the complaint for days.
Ultimately, amid withering pressure, Trump provided the whistleblower complaint to Congress, as well as a transcript of a July 2019 call with Ukraine’s president, two pieces of evidence that became crucial factors in the House’s decision to impeach Trump for abuse of power. The Senate later acquitted him on a nearly party-line vote.
During Saturday’s news conference, Trump said:
“I thought [Atkinson] did a terrible job…an absolutely terrible.
He took a whistleblower report which turned out to be a fake report. It was fake. It was totally wrong. It was about my conversation with the President of Ukraine.
He took a fake report and brought it to Congress with an emergency. Ok. Not a big Trump fan. That I can tell you.”
Atkinson has defended his handling of the whistleblower report.
“I testified under oath that I would ‘encourage, operate, and enforce a program for authorized disclosures within the Intelligence Community that validates moral courage without compromising national security and without retaliation,’” Atkinson wrote in a letter. “I did what I said I would do.”
