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Trump Dismisses Whistleblower Complaint as 'Hack Job'

Associated Press

   WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump irritably defended himself Friday
   against an intelligence whistleblower's complaint, including an
   allegation of wrongdoing in a reported private conversation Trump had
   with a foreign leader.
   The complaint, which the administration has refused to let Congress
   see, is ``serious'' and ``urgent,'' the government's intelligence
   watchdog said. But Trump dismissed the matter, insisting he did nothing
   wrong.
   He declared Friday that the complaint was made by a ``partisan
   whistleblower,'' though he later said he did not know the identity of
   the person. He chided reporters for asking about it and said it was
   ``just another political hack job.''
   ``I have conversations with many leaders. It's always appropriate.
   Always appropriate,'' Trump said. ``At the highest level always
   appropriate. And anything Ido,I fight for this country.''
   Some of the whistleblower's allegations appear to center on Ukraine,
   according to a person familiar with the matter. The person was not
   authorized to discuss the issue by name and was granted anonymity.
   Trump, who sat in the Oval Office with Australian Prime Minister Scott
   Morrison, whom he was hosting for a state visit, was asked if he knew
   if the whistleblower's complaint centered on a July 25 phone call with
   Ukrainian President VolodymyrZelensky. The president responded ``I
   really don't know'' but continued to insist any phone call he made with
   a head of state was ``perfectly fine and respectful.''

   Intelligence director's role
   The standoff raises fresh questions about the extent to which Trump's
   appointees are protecting the Republican president from oversight and,
   specifically, whether his new acting director of national intelligence,
   Joseph Maguire, is working with the Justice Department to shield the
   president from the reach of Congress.
   It also plunged the Trump administration into an extraordinary showdown
   with Congress over access to the whistleblower's Aug. 12 complaint as
   lawmakers press their oversight of the executive branch.
   The administration has kept Congress from even learning what exactly
   the whistleblower is alleging, but the intelligence community's
   inspector general said the matter involves the ``most significant''
   responsibilities of intelligence leadership. A lawmaker said the
   complaint was ``based on a series of events.''
   The inspector general appeared before the House Intelligence Committee
   behind closed doors Thursday but declined, under administration orders,
   to reveal to members the substance of the complaint.

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