Problematic ok kimberly sorry to cut you off that said Joseph Maguire just about to start speaking more crosscuts you know 2nd for now lets head over to capitol hill and listen in to this i beg your pardon this is adam schiff who were looking at now he is about to open this testimony about objection. The chair reserves the right to recess the hearing at any time the president ial oath of office requires the president of the United States to do 2 things faithfully execute his or her office and protect and defend the constitution that oath of course cannot be honored if the president does not 1st defend the country if our National Security is jeopardized if our country is left undefended the necessity to faithfully execute the office becomes moot where there is no country there is no office to execute and so the duty to defend the nation is foundational to the president s responsibilities. But what of this 2nd responsibility to defend the constitution what does that really mean the founders were not speaking of course of a piece of parchment rather they were expressing the obligation of the president to defend the institutions of our democracy to defend our system of checks and balances that the constitution enshrines to defend the rule of law a principle upon which the idea of america was born and that we are a nation of laws not men if we do not defend the nation there is no constitution but if we did not defend the constitution there is no nation worth defending yesterday we were presented with the most graphic evidence yet that the present the United States has betrayed his oath of office betrayed his oath to defend our National Security and betrayed his oath to defend our constitution for yesterday we were presented with a record of a call between the president of the United States and the president of ukraine in which the president our president. Sacrificed our National Security and our constitution for his personal political benefit to understand how we did so we must 1st understand just how overwhelmingly dependent ukraine is on the United States militarily financially diplomatically and in every other way and not just on the United States but on the person of the president ukraine was invaded by its neighbor by our common adversary by Vladimir Putins russia it remains occupied by Russian Irregular forces in a long simmering war ukraine desperately needs our help and for years we have given it and on a bipartisan basis that is until 2 months ago when it was held up inexplicably by President Trump. It is in this context after a brief congratulatory call from President Trump to president s alinsky on april 21st and after the president s personal emissary Rudy Giuliani made it abundantly clear to you cranium officials over several months that the president wanted dirt on his political opponent it is in this context that the new president of ukraine would speak to donald trump over the phone on july 25th president selenski eager to establish himself at home as a friend of the president of the most powerful nation on earth at least 2 objectives get a meeting with the president and get more military help and so what happened on that call zelinsky begins by ingratiating himself and he tries to enlist the support of the president he expresses his interest in meeting with the president and says his country wants to acquire more weapons from us to defend itself and what is the president s response well it reads like a classic organized crime shakedown shorn of its rambling character and not so many words this is the essence of what the president communicates weve been very good to your country very good no other country has done as much as we have but you know what i dont see much reciprocity here i hear what you want i have a favor i want from you though and im going to say this only 7 times so you better listen good i want you to make up dirt on my political potent understand lots of it on this and on that im going to put you in touch with people and not just any people im going to put you in touch with attorney general the United States my attorney general bill barr hes got the whole weight of the american Law Enforcement behind him and im going to put you in touch with rudy youre going to love him trust me. You know what im asking and so im only going to say this a few more times in a few more ways and by the way dont call me again ill call you when youve done what i asked this is in some in character what the president was trying to communicate with the president of ukraine it would be funny if it wasnt such a graphic betrayal of the president s oath of office but as it does represent a real betrayal there is nothing the president says here that is in americas interest after all it is instead the most consequential form of tragedy for it forces us to confront the remedy the founders provided for such a flagrant abuse of Office Impeachment now this matter would not have come to the attention of our committee or the nations attention without the courage of a Single Person the whistleblower as you know director mcguire more so than perhaps any other area of government since we deal with classified information Intelligence Committee is dependent on whistleblowers to reveal wrongdoing when it occurs when the agencies do not self report because outside parties are not allowed to scrutinize your work and to guide us if that system is allowed to break down as it did here if with whistleblowers come to understand that they will not be protected one of 2 things happen serious wrongdoing goes unreported or whistleblowers take matters into their own hands and divulge classified information to the press in violation of the law and placing our National Security at risk this is why the whistleblower system is so vital to us and why your handling of this urgent complaint is also so troubling today we can say for the 1st time since we have released this morning the whistleblower complaint that you have marked on classified. That the substance of this call is a core issue although by means no means the only issue raised by the whistle blowers complaint which was shared with the committee for the 1st time only late yesterday by law the whistle blower complaint which brought this gross misconduct to light should have been present to this Committee Weeks ago and by you mr director on the clear letter of the law and yet it wasnt directed mcguire i was very pleased when you were named acting director you sue gordon was not going to remain i was grateful that a man of your support military background was chosen a navy seal for 36 years and director of the National Counterterrorism center since december 28th seen your credentials are impressive and unlimited interactions that we have had since you became director of n c t c you have struck me as a good and decent man which makes your actions over the last month all the more bewildering why you chose not to provide the complaint to this committee as required by law why you chose to seek a 2nd opinion on whether shall really means shall under the statute why you chose to go to a Department Led by a man bill barr who himself is implicated in the complaint and believes that he exists to serve the interest of the president not the office itself mind you or the Public Interest but the interest of the person of donald trump why you chose to allow the subject of the complaint to play a role in deciding whether congress would ever see the complaint why you stood silent when intelligence professional under your care and protection was ridiculed by the president was accused of potentially betraying his or her country when that whistleblower by their very act of coming forward as shown more dedication to country more of an understanding of the president s oath of office than the president himself we look forward to your explanation. Ranking member newness thank the gentleman i want to congratulate the democrats on the roll out of their latest Information Warfare operation against the president and their extraordinary ability to once again unless the Mainstream Media in their campaign this operation began with media reports from the prime instigators of the russia collusion hoax that a whistleblower is claiming President Trump made nefarious promise to a foreign leader the release transcript of that call has already debunked that central assertion but that didnt matter the democrats simply moved the goalposts and began claiming that there doesnt need to be a quid pro quo for this conversation to serve as the basis for impeaching the president Speaker Pelosi went further when asked earlier if she would put brakes on impeachment if the transcript turned out to be but 9 she responded quote so there you go if the whistle blower operation doesnt work out the democrats and their media we have candidates quote we have many candidates for and peach of all offenses that was her quote so there you go if the whistleblower operation doesnt work out the democrats and their media assets can always drum up Something Else and what other information has come to light since the original false report of a promise being made weve learned the following the complaint relied on hearsay evidence provided by the whistleblower the Inspector General did not know the contents of the phone call it issue the Inspector General found the whistleblower displayed arguable political bias against trump the department of justice investigated the complaint and determined no action was warranted the ukrainian president denies being pressured by President Trump. So once again this supposes scandal ends up being nothing like what we were told and once again the democrats their media mouthpieces and a cabal of leakers are ginning up a fake story with no regard to the monumental damage they are causing to our Public Institutions and to trust in government and without acknowledging all of the false stories they propagated in the past including countless allegations that Trump Campaign colluded with russia to hack the 2016 elect election were supposed to forget about all those stories but believe this one and short what we have with this story line is another still dossier on note here that in the democrats mania to overturn the 2016 elections everything they touch gets hopelessly politicized with the russia hoax it was our intelligence agencies which were turned into a political weapon to attack the president and now today the whistleblower process is the casualty until about a week ago the need to protect that process was the product was a primary bipartisan concern of this committee but if the democrats were really concerned with defending that process they would have pursued this matter with a quiet sober inquiry as we do for all whistleblowers but that would have been useless for them they dont want answers they want to public spectacle and so weve been treated to an unending parade of press releases press conferences and fake news stories this hearing itself is another example whistleblower inquiry should not be held in public at all as our Senate Counterparts both democrats and republicans obviously understand their hearing with mr maguire is behind closed doors but again that only makes sense when your goal is to get information not to create a media frenzy. The current hysteria has Something Else in common with the russia hoax back then they accuse the Trump Campaign of colluding with the russians when the democrats themselves were colluding with the russians and preparing the still dossier today they accuse the president of pressuring ukrainians to take actions that would help himself or hurt is a political opponents and yet there are numerous examples of democrats doing the exact same thing joe biden bragged that he extorted the ukrainians into firing a prosecutor who happened to be investigating bidens own son 3 Democratic Senators wrote a letter pressuring the ukrainian general prosecutor to reopen the investigation into former Trump Campaign officials another democratic senator went to crane and pressure the ukrainian president not to investigate corruption allegations involving joe bidens son according to ukrainian officials the Democratic National committee contractor Alexander Alexandra chalupa tried to get ukrainian officials to provide dirt on Trump Associates and tried to get the former ukrainian president to comment publicly on alleged ties to russia ukrainian official survey a shrink 0 was a source for nellie or wife of department of justice official bruce or a she worked on the anti trump operation conducted by fusion g. P. S. And funded by the democrats and of course democrats on this very committee negotiated with people who they thought were ukrainians in order to obtain nude pictures of trump people can reasonably ask why the democrats are so determined to impeach this president when in just a year theyll have a chance. In fact one democratic congressman one of the 1st to call for trumps impeachment. Gave us the answer when he said quote im concerned that if we dont impeach the president he will get reelected unquote winning elections is hard and when you compete you have no guarantee youll win but the American People do have a say in this and they made their voices heard in the last president ial election this latest gambit by the democrats to overturn the peoples mandate is on a hinged and dangerous they should in the entire dishonest protest spectacle and get back to work to solving problems which is what every member of this committee was sent here to do judging by todays charade the chances of that happen any time soon are 0 to none youll back i think the gentleman the director would you rise for the oath and raise your right hand. You solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony will give today shall be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god that you may be seated the record will reflect that the witness has been duly sworn. Director mcguire would you agree that the whistleblower complaint alleges serious wrongdoing by the president of the United States. Mr chairman the whistleblower well actually i apologize director let me recognize you for your opening statement. And you may take as much time as you need thank you very much mr chairman chairman shelf Ranking Member doing is and members of the Committee Good morning id like to begin by thanking the tram and the committee for agreeing to postpone this hearing for one week this provided sufficient time to allow the executive branch to successfully complete its consultations regarding how to accommodate the committees request. Mr chairman ive told you this on several occasions and i would like to say this publicly i respect you i respect this committee and i welcome d and take seriously the committees oversight role. During my confirmation process to be the director of the National Counterterrorism center i told the Senate Select committee on intelligence that congressional oversight of the intelligence activities is critical and its central to successful operations with the Intelligence Community having served as the director of the National Counterterrorism center for 8 months and as the acting director of National Intelligence for the past 6 weeks i continue to believe strongly that the role of congressional oversight as i pledge to the senate i pledge to you today that i will continue to work closely with congress while im serving either in this capacity as acting director of National Counterterrorism when i return to the National Counterterrorism center to ensure you are fully and currently informed of the tele just activities to facilitate your ability to perform your oversight of the Intelligence Community the American People expect us to keep them safe the Intelligence Community cannot do that without this Committee Support preferred i turned to the matter of hand there are a few things i would like to say i am not partisan and i am not political i believe in a life of service and i am on it to be a Public Servant i served under 8 president s while i was in uniform i have taken the oath to the constitution 11 times the 1st time when i was sworn into the United States navy in 1974 and 9 times during my subsequent promotions in the United States navy most recently former director dan coats administered the oath of office last december when i became the director of the National Counterterrorism center. I agree with you the oath is sacred its the foundation of our constitution the oath to me not only that i swear a true faith and allegiance to that sacred document but more importantly i view it as a covenant i have with my workforce that i lead and every american that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties of my office i come from a long line of Public Servants who stepped forward even in the most difficult times that austere times to support and defend our country when i took my uniform off in july of 2010 it was the 1st time in 70 years that an immediate member of my family was not were in the cloth of the nation as a Naval Special warfare officer i had the honor of commanding get every level in this Field Community it was at times very demanding but the rewards of serving in America Special Operations Community more than make up for the demands. After my retirement i was fortunate to work for a great private sector firm i love the Business World after 3 years to lead a Nonprofit Charity some question why i would leave a Promising Business career to run a charity the answer was quite simple it was another opportunity to serve i led a foundation dedicated to honoring the sacrifice of our fallen and severely Wounded Special operators the foundation i lead an able to hundreds of children of our fallen to attend college it was extremely meaningful and rewarding in the winter of 2018 i was asked by former director dan coach to return to Government Service to lead the National Counterterrorism center. This request was totally unexpected and was not a visitation i saw but then again it was another opportunity to serve my country in particular i knew that many of the young sailors in Junior Officers that i had trained 20 years earlier with now senior combat veterans deploying and still sacrificing i decided if they could continue to serve returning to Government Service it was the very least i could do and now here i am sitting before you as the acting director of National Intelligence with last months departure of dan coats and sue gordon 2 exceptional leaders and friends i was asked to step into their very big shoes and leave the Intelligence Community until the president nominates and the Senate Confirms the next director of National Intelligence i accepted this responsibility because i love this country i have a deep and profound respect for the men and women of our Intelligence Community and the mission we execute every day on behalf of the American People throughout my career i have served and lived through Turbulent Times i have covered every action by the following criteria it must be legal it must be moral and it must be ethical no one can take an individuals take it away they can only be given away if every action meets those criteria you will always be a person of integrity and my nearly 4 decades of Public Service my integrity has never been questioned until now im here today to unequivocally state that is acting d. N. I. I will continue the same faithful and nonpartisan support and a matter that adheres to the constitution and the laws of this great country as long as i serve in this position for whatever period of time that may be i want to make it clear that i have upheld my responsibility to follow the law every step of the way in the matter that is before us today. I want to also state my support for whistleblower and the rights and the laws whistleblowing has a long history in our country dating back to the Continental Congress this is not surprising because as a nation we desire for Good Government therefore we must protect those who demonstrate courage to report alleged wrongdoing whether on the battlefield or in the workplace indeed at the start of ethics training of the executive branch each year we are reminded that Public Service is a public trust and as Public Servants we have a solemn responsibility to do whats right which includes reporting concerns of waste fraud and abuse and bringing such matters to the attention of congress under the Intelligence Community whistleblower protection act i applaud all employees who come forward under this act i am committed to ensuring that all whistleblower complaints are handled appropriately and to protecting the rights of whistleblowers in this case the complainant raised the matter with the Intelligence Community Inspector General the Inspector General is properly protecting the complainants identity and will not permit the complainant to be subject to any retaliation or adverse consequences for communicating the complaint to the Inspector General upholding the integrity of the Intelligence Community and the workforce is my number one priority throughout my career i relied on the men and women of the Intelligence Community to do their jobs so i could do mine and i could personally attest that their efforts saved lives i would now like to turn to the complaint and provide a general background on how we got to where we are today. On august 26th the Inspector General forwarded to the plate to me from an employee in the Intelligence Community the Inspector General stated that the complaint raised an urgent concern a legally defined term under whistleblower protection act that has been discussed at length and our letters to the committee on september 16th has 70 before i turn to the discussion about whether the complaint meets the definition of urgent concern i 1st want to talk about and even more fundamental issue upon reviewing the complaint we were immediately struck by the fact that many of the allegations in the complaint are based on a conversation between the president and another foreign leader such calls are typically subject to executive privilege as a result we consulted with the White House Counsels Office and we were advised that branch of the information the complaint was in fact subject to executive privilege a privilege that i do not have the authority to waive because of that we were unable to immediately share the details with the complaint with this committee but continued to consult with the white house counsels in an effort to do so yesterday the president released the transcript of the call in question and therefore we are now able to disclose the details of both complaint and the Inspector Generals letter transmitted to us as a result i have provided the house and senate Intelligence Committees with the fall and we doubted complaint as well as the Inspector Generals letter let me also discuss the issue of urgent concern when transmitting a complaint to me the Inspector General took the legal position that because to play a complaint alleges on matters of urgent concern and because he found the allegations to be credible i was required under the Intelligence Community whistleblower protection act to forward the complaint to our Oversight Committees within 7 days of receiving it. As we have previously explained in our letters urgent concern is a statutorily defined term to be an urgent concern the allegations must in addition to being classified assert a flagrant serious problem abuse or violation of law and relate to the Funding Administration or operation of an intelligence activity within the responsibility of the director of National Intelligence however this complaint conduct this complaint concerns conduct by someone outside the Intelligence Community unrelated to Funding Administration or operation of an intelligence activity under my supervision. Because the allegation on the face did not appear to fall in the statutory framework my office consulted with the United States department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel and included we included the Inspector General in those consultations after reviewing the complaint and the Inspector Generals transmittal letter the office of Legal Counsel determined that the complaints allegations do not meet the statutory requirement definition concerning legal urgent concern and found that i was not legally required to transmit the material to our Oversight Committee under the whistleblower protection act and a classified version of that office of Legal Counsel memo was publicly released as you know for those of us in the executive Branch Office of Legal Counsel opinions are binding on all of us in particular the office of Legal Counsel opinion states that the president is not a member of the Intelligence Community and the communication with the foreign leader involved no intelligence operation or activity aimed at collecting or analyzing foreign intelligence wireless or will see opinion did not require transmission of the complaint to the committees it did leave me with the discretion to forward the complaint to the committee however given the executive privilege issues i discussed neither the Inspector General nor i were able to share the details of the complaint at the time when the Inspector General inform me that he still intended to notify the committees of the existence of the complaint mr chairman i supported that decision to ensure the committees were kept as informed as possible of this process move forward i want to raise a few of the points about the situation we find ourselves in 1st i want to stress that i believe that the whistleblower and the Inspector General have acted in good faith throughout. I have every reason to believe that they have done everything by the book and follow the law respecting the privileged nature of the information and patiently waiting while the executive privilege issues were resolved wherever possible we have worked in partnership with the Inspector General on this matter while we have difference of opinions on the issue whether or not is george a concern i strongly believe in the role of the Inspector General i greatly value the independence he brings to and his dedication and it role in keeping me and the committees informed of matters within the a tele just committee 2nd although executive privilege prevented us from sharing the details of the complaint with the committees until recently this does not mean that the complaint was ignored the Inspector General in consultation with my Office Referred this matter to the department of justice for investigation finally i appreciate that in the past whistleblower complaints may have been provided to the congress regardless of whether they were deemed credible or satisfy the urgent recurrent urgent concern requirement however i am not familiar with any prior instances where a whistleblower complaint touched on such complicated and sensitive issues including executive privilege i believe that this matter is unprecedented i also believe that i handle this matter in full compliance with the law at all times and i am committed to doing so sir i appreciate the committee providing me this opportunity to discuss this matter the ongoing commitment to work with the congress on your important oversight role thank you very much for. I thank you director. Would you agree that the whistleblower complaint alleges serious wrongdoing by the president of the United States. The whistleblower complaint in involved that the allegation of that i did it is not for me the Intelligence Community decide how the president conducts Foreign Policy for his interaction with leaders of other countries so. Im not asking you to opine on how the president conduct Foreign Policy im asking you whether as the statute requires this complaint involved serious wrongdoing in this case by the president of the United States an allegation of serious wrongdoing by the president of the United States is that not the subject of this complaint. Yes that is the subject of the allegation of the complaint and 2 things mr chair and let me ask you about that
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