Trump blocks whistleblower's report even though he claims he did nothing wrong

The Trump administration has plunged into a showdown with Congress over access to a whistleblower’s reported complaint about incidents including a private conversation between Donald Trump and a foreign leader.

The government’s intelligence watchdog says the blocked complaint is “serious” and “urgent.”

On Friday morning, Trump tweeted that the report was “based on a ‘highly partisan’ whistleblowers [sic] statement” and insisted “there was nothing said wrong, it was pitch perfect!”

However, the administration is keeping Congress from even learning what exactly the whistleblower is alleging. Meanwhile, the intelligence community’s inspector general says the matter involves the “most significant” responsibilities of intelligence leadership. One report said it involved a promise Trump made in a phone call to a foreign leader. 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 the substance of the complaint.

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the chairman of the House intelligence committee, says he cannot confirm a press report that said a whistleblower’s complaint concerned a promise Trump made on a phone call to a foreign leader.

Schiff said Thursday the acting director of national intelligence is withholding the complaint from Congress in an unprecedented departure from the law.

Schiff said, “There is an effort to prevent this information from getting to Congress.”

He said he believes the whistleblower’s complaint “likely involves the president or people around him.”

The intelligence community’s inspector general, Michael Atkinson, appeared behind closed doors Thursday but declined to tell the panel the substance of the complaint.

The Washington Post reported it involved a promise Trump made to an unnamed foreign leader.