Trump fires watchdog who alerted Congress to whistleblower complaint

Author: Jeremy Herb/CNN
Published: Updated:
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 04: Michael Atkinson, Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, leaves a meeting in the U.S. Capitol October 4, 2019 in Washington, DC. Atkinson met with the House Select Committee on Intelligence today in the ongoing impeachment inquiry against U.S. President Donald Trump. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) via CNN.

President Donald Trump on Friday removed Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson — who had told Congress about the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump’s impeachment — from his post, the President told Congress in a letter obtained by CNN.

Atkinson will be fired in 30 days, Trump told the House and Senate Intelligence committees. He did not name a successor.

“As is the case with regard to other positions where I, as President, have the power of appointment … it is vital that I have the fullest confidence in the appointees serving as inspectors general,” Trump wrote. “That is no longer the case with regard to this Inspector General.”

Atkinson’s firing is the latest case of the Trump administration removing officials who took part in the President’s impeachment. Trump also removed Alexander Vindman, a then-National Security Council official who had testified in the House’s proceedings, along with Vindman’s twin brother and then-US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

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