Expressing the Sense of the Senate That the Whistleblower Complaint Received on August By the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Should Be Transmitted Immediately to the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives
Floor Speech
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Mr. McCONNELL. The Senate's obligation is to treat such allegations in a responsible and deliberate manner, to avoid racing to judgment based on media leaks, and to not fuel media speculation with reckless accusations.
There is much we do not know about the complaint lodged with the intelligence community's inspector general, including whether the complaint involves intelligence activities at all.
Before the Democratic leader elected to go to the media yesterday, the chairman and vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence had already been working together in a bipartisan manner-- free from politicization--to get more information from both the Acting Director of National Intelligence and the intelligence community's inspector general. Given the progress the committee was making, I don't believe this made-for-TV moment was actually necessary. I would have preferred the committee be allowed to do its work in a quiet and methodical manner. It doesn't serve the committee or its goals to litigate its business here on the floor or for the television cameras.
Nevertheless, I agree that the DNI should make additional information available to the committee so it can evaluate the complaint consistent with the statute and other procedures that exist to safeguard classified and sensitive information.
I also want to express my appreciation for President Trump's announcement that the White House will release tomorrow the ``complete, fully-declassified, and unredacted transcript of [his] phone conversation with President Zelensky.'' I hope this will help to refocus the conversation away from reckless speculation and back toward the facts.
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