Trump is reportedly mulling firing intelligence community inspector general

President Trump is angry at Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community's inspector general, due to his handling of the Ukraine whistleblower complaint, and has repeatedly brought up firing him, four people with knowledge of the matter told The New York Times.

The whistleblower flagged a July 25 phone call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate his political rivals. The complaint was filed in August, and after Atkinson found it to be credible, he forwarded the report to Joseph Maguire, the government's top intelligence official. Under the law, Maguire was required to turn the complaint over to Congress, but he did not provide it right away.

Atkinson told lawmakers about the complaint, and amid pressure from Democrats, Maguire finally gave it to Congress. Maguire said the Justice Department told him Atkinson didn't have authority to deliver the complaint because Trump is not a member of the intelligence community. Trump appointed Atkinson in 2017, and now he thinks he is disloyal and conspiring with Democrats, the Times reports.

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Recently, Trump has mentioned several times to aides that he wants to fire Atkinson, but two people familiar with the matter told the Times they believe he is just venting, not seriously contemplating getting rid of him. Inspectors general can be fired by the president, but only if they are deemed incompetent or there's a case of misconduct.