Intel Chief Backs Whistleblower's Actions

President Trump has questioned the patriotism of the intelligence official who filed a whistleblower complaint against him, but the acting director of national intelligence feels otherwise. "I think the whistleblower did the right thing," Joseph Maguire said Thursday during testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, per Reuters. "I think he followed the law every step of the way." Maguire also defended his initial refusal to release the whistleblower report to Congress, saying the matter was unprecedented in how it touched on "complicated and sensitive issues including executive privilege." Maguire's testimony began just after the House panel made a declassified version of the whistleblower report public.

Maguire thinks this case "is unique and unprecedented," said Maguire. He added that even he doesn't know the identity of the whistleblower, while deeming the complaint "credible" and "important," reports the Hill. Committee Chair Adam Schiff said the complaint showed that Trump "has betrayed his oath of office, betrayed his oath to defend our national security, and betrayed his oath to defend the Constitution." But GOP Rep. Devin Nunes countered with sarcasm: "I want to congratulate the Democrats on their latest information warfare effort against the president," he said in his opening remarks. (More Joseph Maguire stories.)