Sometime in mid-May, Chad Wolf, acting secretary of Homeland Security, orders DHS official Brian Murphy to cease all reporting of Russia’s interference in the upcoming election.
Instead, Wolf says, “start reporting on interference activities by China and Iran.”
The Trump administration has sought to emphasize the roles of China and Iran because the countries are assessed by intelligence agencies to prefer that Trump loses the election. But as NBC News has previously reported, officials briefed about the intelligence say only Russia is actively interfering in the election, trying to undermine Democrat Joe Biden and help Trump.
NBC News
Wolf’s orders originate from White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien.
Murphy is demoted within DHS after he continues finding intelligence of Russian interference and disinformation campaigns.
Murphy, a Marine veteran and former FBI agent, was hired to play a key role in DHS’ intelligence collection and analysis operation, the complaint says.
The complaint says he made a series of internal complaints about actions taken by three top officials: Nielsen; Chad Wolf, who is serving as acting DHS secretary; and Ken Cuccinelli, the deputy DHS secretary.
NBC News
Reports surface in September, and Chad Wolf is subpoenaed by Congress.
Sources
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/whistleblower-says-top-dhs-officials-distorted-intel-match-trump-statements-n1239685
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/homeland-security-whistleblower-team-trump-distorted-intelligence-n1239732
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/acting-homeland-security-secretary-chad-wolf-subpoenaed-for-hearing-next-week-after-refusing-to-testify/ar-BB18X77w
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dhs-whistleblower-complaint-allegations_n_5f5a24aec5b62874bc1936ef
Photo: Public Domain