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The whistleblower complaint, which led to a tense discussion between the intelligence community and Congress, is related to the communication of US President Donald Trump with a certain foreign leader, the Washington Post reported referring to the two former US officials familiar with the situation. 

Trump’s interaction with the aforementioned foreign leader included some kind of ‘promise’, which was regarded as alarming and prompted a representative of the US intelligence community to file a formal lawsuit against the whistleblower to the intelligence community general inspector, said sources who wished to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to publicly discuss this issue.

According to the publication, the incident over the phone talks raises new questions regarding Trump’s disposition of sensitive information, and may lead to further tension in his relations with US intelligence agencies.

Earlier, Adam Schiff, chair of the House’s Intelligence Committee, accused the Department of Justice of discouraging the transfer of an informant complaint to Congress, allegedly regarding President Donald Trump’s conversation with a foreign leader.

The Washington Post, the first to report a complaint and referring to sources, writes that it is about Ukraine. According to the publication, a few weeks before the complaint was filed, Trump had a telephone talk with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

A source familiar with the situation told Reuters that the complaint referred to Trump’s numerous actions, and not just a phone talk with a foreign leader. The source spoke on condition of anonymity in connection with the sensitive nature of the issue.

Reuters was unable to confirm the details of the informant complaint from independent sources.

The dispute arose after Michael Atkinson, general inspector of the intelligence community, informed the committee in a letter dated September 9 that he had received an informant complaint dated August 9, which he considered urgent and convincing - this satisfies legislation requiring information to be passed to Congress.

However, according to a letter to the intelligence committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate of September 13, Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, after consultations with the Justice Ministry, concluded that the complaint did not meet the urgent matter requirement.

Schiff accused the Trump administration of blocking the investigation in Congress and said the Justice Department misinterpreted the law, preventing Maguire from reporting the complaint.

Trump called the Washington Post ‘fake news.’

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