Lonesome whistle on the railroad track

I’m not getting my hopes up too high, but it’s just possible that this could turn into something that makes an actual difference in our nothing matters any more world:

President Donald Trump’s communications with a foreign leader, which included a “promise,” sparked the whistleblower complaint that has led the acting director of national intelligence to agree to testify amid a showdown with Congress, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The Post reported that an official in the American intelligence community was so bothered by a “promise” Trump made to a foreign leader that the official filed a formal whistleblower complaint with the inspector general of the intelligence community, according to two former US officials familiar with the matter. It’s unknown which leader Trump was speaking to and it’s the first time his direct involvement in the complaint has been reported, according to the Post.

The complaint was filed on August 12 and White House records show Trump had spoken to or interacted with five foreign leaders in the previous five weeks, the Post reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands and the Emir of Qatar. However, it’s not clear that the communication that inspired the complaint was with any of those leaders.

The White House did not respond to the Post’s requests for comment and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and a lawyer representing the whistleblower declined to comment to the Post. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence also declined to comment when reached by CNN on Wednesday.

The complaint has led to a standoff between Congress and acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, who has refused to turn over the complaint to the House Intelligence Committee.

Maguire has agreed to testify next week in an open session before the committee after refusing to comply with Tuesday’s deadline to hand over the whistleblower complaint, which had been deemed by the intelligence community inspector general to be “credible and urgent.”

The committee’s chairman, Rep. Adam Schiff, announced Wednesday that Maguire will appear at 9 a.m. on September 26. The California Democrat also announced that the intelligence community inspector general will brief the House committee Thursday behind closed doors about how it handled the whistleblower complaint.

In a subpoena issued last week, Schiff said he would force the acting intelligence chief to testify this Thursday if he did not comply with a request to turn over the complaint and all corresponding records.

I’m not russian to any conclusions about what is putin the whistleblower in this position, but it’s safe to say that Trump’s interactions with this mysterious foreign leader are considered a nyet negative by the intelligence community.

. . . Also:

So a Supreme Court justice agreed to be a source to journalists on the condition that they affirmatively lie about that fact.

This guy is really something. Somebody should do a background check on him.