US President Donald Trump has dismissed Michael Atkinson, the Intelligence Community inspector general who alerted the Congress of a whistleblower complaint that triggered the president's impeachment process, US media reported on Saturday, citing a letter Trump sent to lawmakers
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th April, 2020) US President Donald Trump has dismissed Michael Atkinson, the Intelligence Community inspector general who alerted the Congress of a whistleblower complaint that triggered the president's impeachment process, US media reported on Saturday, citing a letter Trump sent to lawmakers.
The whistleblower complaint floodlighted Trump's attempt to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a phone call to investigate his political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden for potential corruption by holding back the US military aid to Ukraine. In November, the New York Times cited a source in the administration as saying that Trump was considering firing Atkinson as he faulted the watchdog for making the complaint known publicly. Other sources were cited as saying that while such an idea had been voiced by Trump, Atkinson's dismissal was never under serious consideration.
"It is vital that I have the fullest confidence in the appointees serving as inspectors general. That is no longer the case with regard to this inspector general," Trump was quoted by several US media as saying in a letter he had sent to the Congress late on Friday.
Trump reportedly added that he would nominate a replacement "who has [his] full confidence and who meets the appropriate qualifications," at a later time.
Last September, the Democrat-led House of Representatives launched an impeachment inquiry into Trump over his alleged attempt to solicit foreign contribution to his presidential campaign using the US military aid to Ukraine as a political lever. In February of this year, the Republican-majority Senate acquitted Trump on both charges of abuse of power and on obstruction of Congress.
