Maguire just slipped up:

[DetlefK]

First he said that he cannot tell whether or not he talked to Trump about the whistleblower-complaint, because as DNI any conversation with the President he has is automatically classified. He can neither confirm nor deny.

But later, he said that he didn't talk to Trump about the political situation in Ukraine.



Why is he able to deny that he talked to Trump about Ukraine but at the same time he can legally neither confirm nor deny whether he talked about the complaint?

[Jarqui]

1. Kind of rhetorical

"as DNI any conversation with the President he has is automatically classified"

He can say that he didn't talk to Trump about the political situation in Ukraine if he really did not talk to him about it because not talking to Trump about something is not classified.

He could have said the same thing about not talking with Trump about the whistleblower if he didn't talk with Trump about the whistleblower. But he couldn't confirm or deny it if he did talk with Trump about the whistleblower because his conversation would be classified.

His response might be an indication he spoke with Trump about the whistleblower.