Acting National Intelligence director Joseph Maguire refused on Tuesday to testify before Congress this week — and he won't immediately hand over a whistleblower complaint to lawmakers, the New York Times first reported.
Why it matters: Per the Wall Street Journal, the rejection of the subpoena from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) "escalates an unusual confrontation between the House panel and [Maguire’s office], which oversees all 17 U.S. spy agencies."
- Schiff said in a statement he was concerned the agency might be acting to conceal high-level wrongdoing by President Trump or his immediate advisers over the complaint, which a government watchdog deemed "urgent" and credible, per Politico.
The big picture: The nature of the whistleblower’s complaint isn’t known. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence defended its decision to withhold details of the whistleblower’s complaint in a letter to Schiff, obtained by WSJ.
