Expressing Sense of the House with Respect to Whistleblower Complaint Made to Inspector General of Intelligence Community

Floor Speech

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Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding, and I commend him for his great patriotism, for the equanimity that he brings to all that he does with great wisdom and judgment.

Madam Speaker, just over a week ago, when our Nation observed the anniversary of the adoption of our Constitution, on that very day, news broke of great allegations which were a threat to our Constitution.

On that day, the intelligence community inspector general formally notified Congress that the administration was forbidding him from turning over a whistleblower complaint that he found to be of ``urgent concern'' and ``credible.''

The administration's refusal to turn over the full complaint is a violation of the law, which is unequivocal, stating that the DNI, the Director of National Intelligence, shall provide Congress with the full complaint.

I repeat, that obligation is mandatory.

Shortly thereafter, the American people learned of a phone call from the White House calling upon a foreign power to intervene in the upcoming election. Today's release of the notes of the call by the White House confirms this behavior, which undermines the integrity of our elections, the dignity of any Presidency, and our national security.

Let us repeat the facts:

The intelligence community inspector general, who was appointed by President Trump, determined that the complaint was both of ``urgent concern and credible,'' and its disclosure ``relates to one of the most significant and important of the Director of National Intelligence's responsibilities to the American people.''

I want to talk a moment, Madam Speaker, if I may, about whistleblowers.

First, let me say what an asset the intelligence community is to the security of our country. We talk about our men and women in uniform, and we praise them. We could never thank them enough. Our intelligence community personnel are a significant part of the national security of our country.

Whistleblowers, in any part of the government, are important, but whistleblowers can be defined as an act of reporting waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption in a lawful manner to those who can correct the wrongdoing.

The intelligence community has publicly recognized the importance of whistle blowing and supports protections for whistleblowers who conform to guidelines to protect classified information.

This is a very important balance, and when laws were written--and I was there for it as a member of the committee and as ranking member and part of the Gang of Four, before I even became part of the leadership. I saw the evolution of these laws and then the improvements on them, with further protection for whistleblowers.

I was also there for the creation of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the relationship between the two, and it is a careful balance of protecting whistleblowers but also protecting our national security and our intelligence--our intelligence.

So, in any event, one of the bills we wrote was the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act. The law plays a vital role in our democracy. It enables our system of separation of powers to maintain the rule of law by making sure that the abuses of unlawful actions are known, first through the inspector general of the intelligence community, and then the congressional intelligence committees, House and Senate, which can act upon it.

The statute does not permit the DNI to second-guess the inspector general's determination of any complaint he finds to be ``credible.'' At no point in the history of this law has a DNI ever refused to turn over a whistleblower's complaint that has been found by the IG as ``credible.'' Refusing to do this is a violation of the law.

Our national security depends on this framework. This vote today is about more than just any one President. This resolution is about the preservation of our American system of government.

Once we pass this resolution--and I acknowledge that we are joining the Senate, which passed it without objection yesterday, unanimously-- the DNI will be faced with a choice: to honor his responsibility to help preserve our Republic or to break the law.

This resolution passed by unanimous consent--I repeat--in the Senate. Every Member, Democratic and Republican, should join us in passing this in the House.

While we await the release of the full complaint, we reiterate our call for the release of the full transcript of the call between President Trump and the Ukrainian President and reiterate our call to protect whistleblowers from retaliation.

Madam Speaker, I urge a bipartisan vote to defend our national security and to protect our democracy.

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