CHECKING OUT

Top Intel Office Lawyer Who Blocked Ukraine Whistleblower’s Complaint to Resign Early

Jason Klitenic blocked the White House whistleblower’s “urgent” complaint regarding Trump and Ukraine, which helped kickstart the impeachment inquiry.

Jason Klitenic, the top lawyer for the U.S. intelligence community whose decision to block a whistleblower’s “urgent” complaint about President Trump and Ukraine from Congress helped kickstart the impeachment inquiry, will reportedly resign next month. Politico reports it is unclear why Klitenic is departing early. The general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence faced criticism in September when he consulted with the Justice Department and subsequently decided that the whistleblower complaint by an internal watchdog would not be provided to Congress. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) demanded access to the complaint after learning it had been blocked, which led to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to open an impeachment inquiry in late September. Klitenic wrote in a Sept. 13 letter that the DNI and the Justice Department “determined that the allegations did not fall within the statutory definition of an ‘urgent concern’ and that the statute did not require the complaint to be transmitted to the intelligence committees.” In a Sept. 17 letter, Klitenic rejected allegations by Schiff and other Democrats that the complaint had been improperly handled.