Let's face it: Maguire did nothing wrong.

[DetlefK]

The problem is that the laws and regulations he's working with are not prepared for such an unprecedented situation where an intelligence whistleblower would file a complaint on someone in the White House.

The problem is that there are two contradicting laws:
1. One law says that the whistblower complaint shall be passed on to the respective congressional committees.
2. The other law says that any information about the White House must first be greenlit by the White House whether executive privilege applies or not.



Maguire had a straight-forward choice: Break one of these two laws. Choose.



He chose. He complied with one of the laws and in doing so automatically broke the other.

[LexVegas]

1. Can you supply citation for the 2nd law? I am not familiar with it. nt

[empedocles]

3. .

[W_HAMILTON]

4. Yes, I'm not aware of any such law either.

[Atticus]

9. The source for this is Maguire's ass--- he just pulled it out of there. nt

[uponit7771]

14. LOFL !!!

[GusBob]

2. caught in the catch-22 yes but he did do something wrong

the word "shall" in legalese takes precedent

[a kennedy]

22. That's the problem SHALL, it should be WILL

[splunge63]

24. this

100% correct

[5X]

5. privilege has to be asserted, is not implied or automatic. n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Um "executive privilege"

has nothing to do with potential criminal activity - which is what whistle-blowers are alleging.

[uponit7771]

7. The second one doesn't exist, so yes ... Maquire is wrong

[Mike 03]

8. I'm slightly sympathetic to him because he smacks of being a "fish out of water"

He didn't want this job and I think this scandal blindsided him. Being a military man he did what he had always done, go to his superiors. He's been in this position for six weeks. But I could be naive, wouldn't be the first time.

[uponit7771]

16. 👍🏼, this is EXACTLY what it looks like ... feel kinda sorry for him too but he should've followed

... the letter of the law but I can understand how Americas crooked and illegitimate AG would confuse this matter.

[elleng]

20. Feels that way to me too,

but I started listening late.

[kacekwl]

23. Sorry but anyone with 1/2 a brain

would know better than to work for this administration. Play with pigs you become bacon.

[Mike 03]

26. That's a pretty good argument too.

Also, it's really pissing me off that he won't give a straight answer to many of Schiff's second-round questions.

[Blue_true]

41. I briefly watched the start of his testimony today.

He seems to respect the role that Congress plays in national security. I wonder what he says in the closed door Senate hearing that come next.

[DURHAM D]

10. Just going to leave this here -

Link to tweet

[cynatnite]

12. He violated his oath of office. Period. n/t

[leftieNanner]

29. Don't think he took an oath of office

Except his military one. He's not a confirmed DNI, just acting. I may be wrong here.

[Ilsa]

36. I believe he said in his opening testimony that he was sworn in for this office. nt

[leftieNanner]

40. Ok thanks

Nt

[Blue_true]

42. No he was not. He is acting DNI. He was sworn into a lower office that involves intelligence.

He indicated that he may be going back to that office once a permanent DNI is chosen.

My guess, if he tells the truth, Trump gets rid of him fullstop.

[herding cats]

13. It was settled under Nixon there's no executive privilege for illegal acts.

There's no law which says there is, quite to the contrary actually.

[Kaleva]

38. I don't think it's up to the DSI to decide if the act was illegal or not.

[awesomerwb1]

15. Sorry, but that's incorrect

[earthside]

17. The Big Take-Away ....

Maguire testifies to the credibility and patriotism of the whistleblower.

Maguire backs-up the Inspector General's determination that the Complaint was credible.

That's all you need from this guy.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

19. +1

[Kaleva]

39. +2

[eleny]

18. The law obligated him, by the word "shall", to turn over the allegations to Congress

He failed and has been outed. He needs to resign.

[StarfishSaver]

21. I don't think #2 is accurate. Can you cite the law that requires this?

[Fiendish Thingy]

25. Your 2nd point is not supported by evidence- Maguire broke the law

He may be the first of many sacrificial lambs to go to jail before this is over.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

27. bullshit!

The whistleblower law is there because otherwise you'd have the Executive branch overseeing itself. The law does not permit consulting about the complaint; the complaint shall be passed to the committee.

[yellowcanine]

28. Shall means shall. Does not say "unless the WH disagrees" Sorry I think he did break the law.

[JCMach1]

30. Executive Privilege does not apply to crimes

Also, you don't self-deal for legal opinions to those named in the document...

He is guilty of very bad judgement in this case...


The only thing I agree about is that it is UNPRECEDENTED

[genxlib]

31. I think it is worth noting

The DNI is not a lawyer. While he may be steeped in the military and intelligence fields that have legal ramifications, that doesn't mean he is an expert.

I think it is likely that he admitted that to himself and sought advice from...Wait for it...the Attorney General.

He is wrong about the legality of the situation but I would bet money that his understanding of the legal ramifications came directly from Barr.

Edited to add. I also concur with others that #2 is not a law. And to what degree the precedent exists, it doesn't cover crimes. All the more reason to believe that he got his information from Barr who is famous for bending the law to fit his purpose.

[ecstatic]

32. F that. The complaint named trump and barr.

Yeah, our laws are weak and depend too heavily on norms. But there's also a common sense component and Maguire failed to use common sense. Purposefully, in my opinion.

By doing what he did, he elevated both trump and barr to "above the law" status. There's no justification or excuse for what he did.

[Vinca]

33. I don't know. In the end I think he was just trying to cover his ass and nothing more.

He evaded even the most basic of questions when a simple yes or no would have been appropriate. And, despite his effort not to crap all over Trump, no one would be surprised if he was gone before the end of the day. I doubt the Trump-appointed IG has a long future in government either.

[wishstar]

34. He is Trump toadie like Barr putting unlimited executive privilege ahead of anything else

He didn't understand that potential wrongdoing of this seriousness by Pres. isn't protected by Exec privilege from Congressional oversight and he doesn't understand that lawyer-client privilege doesn't prevent criminal activity by Giuliani from being investigated and should not be used an excuse for ignoring Giuliani's activities.

[OnDoutside]

35. You are making a massive assumption,that he's telling the truth about WHY he went to WH.

We don't know that for certain. He could be massaging the story, after the fact

[Jersey Devil]

37. The only reason the situation is "unprecedented" is that he made it that way

He could have easily passed the complaint to congress by redacting the content of the phone call from the complaint and at least informing congress that there was a complaint.