Committee representative ted lieu. Join the discussion. Acting intelligence director testified today about handling a whistleblower complaint concerning President Trump and the president of ukraine. From the housens Intelligence Committee could you can read the whistleblower complaints at cspan. Org. [gavel bangs] chairman schiff the committee will come to order. Without objection, the chair reserves the right to reassess the hearing at any time. The president ial oath of office requires the president of the United States to do two 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 first 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 second 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 a principle upon which the idea of america was born, that we are a nation of laws, not men. If we do not defend the nation, there is no constitution. But if we do not defend the constitution, there is no nation worth defending. Yesterday, we were presented with the most graphic evidence yet, that the president of 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 he did so, we must first 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 two 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 zelensky on april 21, and after the president s personal emissary, rudy giuliani, made it abundantly clear to ukrainian officials over several months that the president wanted dirt on his political opponents, it is in this context, that the new president of ukraine would speak to donald trump over the phone on july 25. President zelisnky, either to establish himself at home as a friend of the president of the most powerful nation on earth had at least two objectives. Get a meeting with the president and get more military help. And so, what happened on that call . Zelinski begins by ingratiating himself, and he tries to enlist the support of the president. He expresses 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 in 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 seven times, so you better listen good. I went you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand, lots of it. On this and on that. Im going to put you in touch with people, not just any people. Im going to put you in touch , 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. I will call you when youve done what i asked. This is, in character, what the president was trying to communicate. 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 maguire more so than perhaps any other area of government since we deal with classified information, the Intelligence Committee is dependent on whistleblowers to reveal wrongdoing when it occurs. When the agencies do not selfreport. 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 whistleblowers come to understand that they will not be protected, one of two things happen. Serious wrongdoing goes unreported, or whistleblowers take matters into their own hands and divulge classified information to the press in violation of 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 First Time Since we have released this morning the whistleblower complaint, that you have marked unclassified, that the substance of this call is a core issue although by no means the only issue raised by the whistleblowers complaint. Which was shared with the committee for the first time only late yesterday. By law, the whistleblower complaint, which brought this gross misconduct to light, should have been presented to this Committee Weeks ago and by you, mr. Director, under the clear letter of the law. And yet, it wasnt. Director maguire, i was very pleased when you were named acting director. If sue gordon was not going to remain, i was grateful that a man of your superb military background was chosen. A navy seal for 36 years and director of the National Counterterrorism center since december 2018. Your credentials are impressive. In the limited interactions we have had since you became director, you have struck me as a good and decent man. Which makes your actions over the last month all the more will more bewildering. Why you chose not to provide the complaint to this committee as required by law. Why you chose to seek a Second 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 the 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, has 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 nunez. Ranking member nunez i thank the gentleman. I want to congratulate democrats on the rollout of their latest Information Warfare operation against the president. And their extraordinary ability to once again enlist 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 released transcript of that call has already debunked that central assertion. But that didnt matter. The democrats simply moved the goalpost and began claiming 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 benign. She responded, so there you go. If the whistleblower operation doesnt work out, the democrats and their media we have many candidates for impeachable 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 . We have 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 at 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, the supposed scandal ends up being nothing like what we were told, and once again, the democrats and 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 the false stories they propagated in the past, including countless allegations that the Trump Campaign colluded with russia to hack the 2016 election. We are supposed to forget about all those stories. But believe this one. In short, what we have with this storyline is another steel dossier. I will 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. Today, the whistleblower process is the casualty. Until about a week ago, the need to protect that process 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 a 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 inquiries should not be held in public at all. As our Senate Counterparts 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 accused the Trump Campaign of colluding with russians when the democrats themselves were colluding with russians. And preparing the steele dossier. Today, they accuse the president of pressuring ukrainians to take actions that would help himself or hurt his 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. Three Democratic Senators wrote a letter pressuring the ukrainian general prosecutor to reopen the investigation into former Trump Campaign officials. Another democratic senator went ukraine and pressured the ukrainian president not to investigate corruption allegations involving joe bidens son. According to ukrainian officials, the Democratic National committee contractor alexandra chaluba tried to get ukrainian officials to provide dirt and tried to get the former ukrainian president to comment publicly on alleged ties to russia. Ukrainian official sergei b. Was a source for the wife of Department Justice official bruce orr as she worked on the antitrump operation conducted by fusion gps 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, they will have a chance. In fact, one democratic congressman, one of the first to call for trumps impeachment gave us the answer when he said, im concerned that if we dont impeach the president , he will get reelected. Winning elections is hard. And when you compete, you have no guarantee you will 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 unhinged and dangerous. They should end the entire dishonest, grotesque 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 happening anytime soon are zero to none. I yield back. Chairman schiff i thank the gentleman. Director, would you rise for the oath and raise your right hand . Do 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 . Thank you. You may be seated. The record will reflect that the witness has been duly sworn. Director maguire, would you agree that the whistleblower complaint alleges serious wrongdoing by the president of the United States . Director maguire mr. Chairman, the whistleblower chairman schiff i apologize, director. Let me recognize you for your Opening Statement, and you may take as much time as you need. Director maguire thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Chairman schiff, Ranking Members of the committee, thank you. Good morning. I would like to postpone this hearing for one week. Mr. Chairman, i have told you this on several occasions and i would like to say this publicly. I respect you, i respect this committee, and i welcome 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 essential to successful operations with the Intelligence Community. Having served as the director of the National Counterterrorism center for eight months, and as the acting director of National Intelligence for the past six weeks, i continue to believe strongly that the role of congressional oversight. As i pledged 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, and when i return to the National Counterterrorism center. To ensure you are fully and currently informed of intelligence 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 committees support. Before i turn to the matter at 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 honored to be a public servant. I served under eight president s while i was in uniform. I have taken the oath to the constitution 11 times. The first time, when i was sworn into the United States navy in 1974, and nine 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 means not