According to a justice department legal opinion, Atkinson expressed concern that Trump potentially exposed himself to “serious national security and counter-intelligence risks” when he pressed Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to investigate the Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden and his son during
a call on 25 July last year.
Late on Friday, Trump said in a letter to Congress that Atkinson no longer had his “fullest confidence” and would be removed in 30 days’ time.
“He’s settling scores,” Schiff said of Trump. “We’re in the middle of this pandemic and thousands of people are dying and he is retaliating against people who are on his enemies list and doing it in the dead of night.”
On Saturday morning, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, called Atkinson’s firing “a brazen act against a patriotic public servant who has honorably performed his duty”.
“This latest act of reprisal against the intelligence community threatens to have a chilling effect against all willing to speak truth to power,” Pelosi said.
Whistleblower Aid, a group which supports “individuals who, lawfully, report government and corporate law breaking”, said Trump was “implementing a direct assault on critical federal oversight mechanisms implemented in the wake of Watergate”, the 1970s scandal which brought down Richard Nixon.
“Now is the time for truth telling,” the statement said. “The lives of Americans depend on whether public servants … can carry out their duties without interference, fear or retaliation.”
