'Great reporting by Sean Davis: 'Intel Community Secretly Gutted Requirement Of First-Hand Whistleblower Knowledge'; UPDATE

Greg P. | 5:58 PM on September 27, 2019

UPDATE 8:24 p.m.

The Daily Beast’s Kevin Poulsen is questioning the accuracy of The Federalist article:

BEWARE. This story is false.

Compare the May 2018 version of the form (left) with the version currently on the DNI's website. Fake story.

Also, the requirements are set by 50 USC 3033 (k)(5) and can only be changed by legislation.

Also, Trump's whistleblower wrote a letter https://t.co/y5NDkbHFyg pic.twitter.com/iEVrRPoZBZ

— Kevin Poulsen (@kpoulsen) September 27, 2019

Original post.

Well, this Friday-night scoop from The Federalist’s Sean Davis looks kinda important:

BREAKING: The intelligence community secretly eliminated a requirement that whistleblower complaints contain only direct, first-hand knowledge of wrongdoing allegations.

A new version of the complaint form allowing hearsay was secretly revised last month. https://t.co/ZvCpCMBx8h

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) September 27, 2019

And they won’t comment on this major change which is at the heart of what’s looking like the impeachment of President Trump:

When asked via phone when the secret revisions were made and why the requirement for first-hand whistleblower knowledge was eliminated, an intelligence community spokeswoman said they would not comment on any questions about the secret evidence revisions. https://t.co/ZvCpCMBx8h

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) September 27, 2019

Wow. Just, wow:

Great reporting by Sean Davis here. https://t.co/98rO78FRop

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) September 27, 2019

Here’s the opener:

Between May 2018 and August 2019, the intelligence community secretly eliminated a requirement that whistleblowers provide direct, first-hand knowledge of alleged wrongdoings. This raises questions about the intelligence community’s behavior regarding the August submission of a whistleblower complaint against President Donald Trump. The new complaint document no longer requires potential whistleblowers who wish to have their concerns expedited to Congress to have direct, first-hand knowledge of the alleged wrongdoing that they are reporting.

The brand new version of the whistleblower complaint form, which was not made public until after the transcript of Trump’s July 25 phone call with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and the complaint addressed to Congress were made public, eliminates the first-hand knowledge requirement and allows employees to file whistleblower complaints even if they have zero direct knowledge of underlying evidence and only “heard about [wrongdoing] from others.”