Whistleblower complaint: Coalition of Inspectors General slam DOJ opinion

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

A coalition of Inspectors General is urging the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel to withdraw or modify its opinion that the whistleblower complaint regarding President Donald Trump's communications with Ukraine was not of "urgent concern," a determination that initially blocked the allegations from reaching Congress.

In a new letter sent to Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel this week, the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, which is composed of federal government inspectors general, slammed an OLC memo that "effectively overruled the determination by the ICIG regarding an 'urgent concern' complaint" that the ICIG concluded was "credible and therefore needed to be transmitted to Congress."

"This letter from the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, on behalf of the undersigned federal Inspectors General (IG), expresses our support for the position advanced by the ICIG and our concern that the OLC opinion, if not withdrawn or modified, could seriously undermine the critical role whistleblowers play in coming forward to report waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct across the federal government," it states.

The letter amounts to a sharp rebuke of the OLC opinion and sign of solidarity from the officials who act as independent watchdogs of government agencies.

In strong language, the inspectors general elevated a disagreement over an interpretation of federal whistleblower law that was at the center of the early moments of the scandal around the President's call with the leader of Ukraine, which is now the subject of an impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives.

The memo from the OLC -- a division of the Justice Department responsible for providing legal advice to the White House and agencies -- effectively blocked the inspector general for the intelligence community from taking the whistleblower complaint to Congress.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/whistleblower-complaint-coalition-of-inspectors-general-slam-doj-opinion/ar-AAJmJsz?li=BBnbcA1

[RockRaven]

1. Every time ANY pundit leans on the fact that the DOJ has an opinion/memo that says X

whatever that X may be, other pundits' first response should be to point out that one of the OLC's main functions is to carry water for the President by writing opinions and memos which justify what the President has already decided to do, no matter how ridiculous, stupid, un-credible, or obviously pretextual their arguments may be (See torture memos by Yoo et al).

The OLC is where the POTUS goes to get an official permission slip for X, even though it is obvious to everyone that they have been *ordered* to produce said permission slip, and their whole job is to write those kind of permission slips so there is no point in expecting them to have any integrity or ever produce any push-back. In fact, when they do push back, they are immediately replaced (see Jack Goldsmith and his withdrawal of the torture memos, which were then re-instated by his supplicant successor).