The inspector general who vetted the explosive whistleblower complaint against President Donald Trump emphasized that the complaint was not compromised by the whistleblowerâs political leanings.
But that hasnât stopped Trump, his political allies and the conservative media from attempting to paint the whistleblowerâs motives and accusations as purely partisan.
âThey think I may have had a âdiceyâ conversation with a certain foreign leader based on a âhighly partisanâ whistleblowers statement,â Trump tweeted on Sept. 20, later telling reporters, âI donât know the identity of the whistleblower, I just hear itâs a partisan person, meaning it comes out from another party, but I donât have any idea.â
On Thursday, Trump reportedly groused that the whistleblower was basically âa spyâ who would have been dealt with differently âin the old days,â the New York Times reported.
The whistleblowerâs complaint, a copy of which Congress released Thursday, levels the disturbing claim that the president asked Ukraine for dirt on political rival Joe Biden and that the White House sought to âlock downâ all records of the phone call during which this transpired.
The identity of the whistleblower remains known to very few. One of the handful of people to know their name is the inspector general of the intelligence community who first received the complaint.
In an August letter revealing the complaint to Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, the inspector general noted that the whistleblower seemed to have personal politics opposing Trump, but said the âarguableâ bias didnât undermine the credibility of the complaint.
âAlthough the ICIGâs preliminary review identified some indicia of an arguable political bias on the part of the Complainant in favor of a rival political candidate, such evidence did not change my determination that the complaint relating to the urgent concern âappears credible.ââ
The inspector general didnât specify the scope of the review nor what those indications of bias were. And whistleblowersâ political leanings â in any direction â are not proof that they are exaggerating or fabricating their claims. Independent reporting and a summary of Trumpâs call with the Ukrainian president made public this week have corroborated much of the whistleblowerâs complaint.
Trumpâs supporters, though, are seizing on the whistleblowerâs supposed bias to dismiss the entire complaint out of hand.
âThatâs Washington speak for âthey were out to get the President,ââ tweeted Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee.
Kimberley Strassel, a Fox News contributor and member of the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board, highlighted the passage to conclude that the whole affair is simply âanother internal attempt to take out a president, on the basis of another non-smoking-gun.â
Others used details about the attorneys aiding the whistleblower to paint the accusations as suspect.
The Washington Free Beacon dinged the main lawyer for the whistleblower, Andrew Bakaj, for donating $100 to Joe Biden and dug into his co-counselâs past support for Hillary Clinton. Other conservative outlets aggregated the reporting with relish, with Townhall tutting, âWell, well, well what do we have here.â
On Thursday, when Maguire appeared before Congress for a dramatic hearing examining his handling of the complaint, Trump allies questioned the whistleblowerâs means and motives.
Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) â who was briefly a candidate for Maguireâs job â strongly implied that the whistleblowerâs bias was detectable because of his or her reliance on âmainstreamâ sources of news.
âThose sources happen to include mainstream media,â Ratcliffe said. âThe sources that the whistleblower bases his complaints on include The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Hill, Bloomberg, ABC News, and others. In other words, much like the Steele dossierâ â a notorious piece of anti-Trump opposition research â âthe allegations in the whistleblowerâs complaints are based on thirdhand mainstream media sources.â
A clip of Ratcliffe was quickly circulated by the Republican National Committeeâs research arm.
Maguire said he believed the whistleblower âacted in good faithâ in an unprecedented situation and followed the rules in place for calling out âurgent and importantâ misconduct.
âI believe the whistleblower followed the steps every step of the way,â Maguire said.