- A former senior Department of Homeland Security official filed a whistleblower complaint accusing top officials at the department of suppressing, withholding, and manipulating intelligence about Russia that could anger President Donald Trump.
- The official, Brian Murphy, still works at the DHS but alleges that he was demoted as retaliation after he filed multiple protected disclosures through the chain of command about potential illegal activity by top officials.
- Murphy accused former DHS secretary Kirstjen Nielsen of making false statements to Congress, and he said acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf asked him to hold back intelligence assessments about Russia because they "make the President look bad."
- Murphy also said that senior officials asked him to alter intelligence assessments to downplay the threat of white supremacists and exaggerate the threat posed by "left-wing" activists amid protests against police brutality.
- Scroll down to read key portions of the bombshell whistleblower complaint.
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A former senior official at the Department of Homeland Security filed a whistleblower complaint accusing top officials at the agency of suppressing intelligence related to Russian interference in the US election; altering intelligence assessments to match President Donald Trump's false claims about Russia, antifa, and illegal immigration; and making false statements to Congress.
Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, revealed the existence of the complaint on Tuesday and said his committee will investigate its claims. The complaint was filed by Brian Murphy, the former principal deputy undersecretary in the Office of Intelligence and Analysis (DHS I&A). Murphy on August 1 was demoted to the role of assistant to the deputy undersecretary for the DHS Management Division and will serve in that position for 120 days.
Murphy filed his complaint with the DHS's Office of the Inspector General on Monday. After Schiff received the complaint, he sent Murphy a letter Tuesday asking him to testify in a deposition pursuant to a subpoena on September 21.
"Mr. Murphy's allegations are serious — from senior officials suppressing intelligence reports on Russia's election interference and making false statements to Congress about terrorism threats at our southern border, to modifying intelligence assessments to match the President's rhetoric on Antifa and minimizing the threat posed by white supremacists," Schiff said in a statement Tuesday.
Murphy alleges in his complaint that he was demoted last month as retaliation for sounding the alarm about potentially illegal and unethical activity occurring at the department.
"The identified protected communications were made through Mr. Murphy's chain of command, as well as to the DHS Office of Inspector General ('OIG')," the complaint said. "Notably, Mr. Murphy made protected communications to his immediate supervisor and some of the very Responsible Management Officials ('RMOs') who ultimately took (or threatened to take) retaliatory action against Mr. Murphy."
Federal law defines a protected disclosure as "a formal or information communication or transmission of information regarding which the employee reasonably believes evidences a violation of law, rule or regulation, or evidences gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety."
Murphy's disclosures mainly relate to actions taken by three current or former top officials: former DHS secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf, and deputy DHS secretary Kenneth Cuccinelli. He also alleges that others were involved in both the "underlying events" that prompted the whistleblower complaint and the retaliatory measures taken against him. They include former deputy chief of staff Miles Taylor and DHS counselor Kristen Marquadt.
Russian interference
Murphy said in his complaint that he was told by senior officials to stop focusing on Russian election interference and to withhold intelligence assessments about the matter. He named Nielsen, Wolf, Cuccinelli, Taylor, and the acting deputy director for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Kash Patel.
Between March 2018 and August 2020, Murphy made a number of protected disclosures "regarding a repeated pattern of abuse of authority, attempted censorship of intelligence analysis and improper administration of an intelligence program related to Russian efforts to influence and undermine United States interests," his complaint said. Most of the disclosures contained classified information and were therefore not described in detail in the complaint.
In mid-May, Murphy said, Wolf told him not to produce any more intelligence assessments about Russia and focus on China and Iran instead. He added that Wolf told him "these instructions specifically originated from White House National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien." Murphy replied that he would not comply with O'Brien's order because "doing so would put the country in substantial and specific danger."
Later that month, after a meeting of the NSC Deputies Committee on Election Security, Murphy's complaint said he made a classified protected disclosure to Cuccinelli related to "abuse of authority, willfully withholding intelligence information from Congress, and the improper administration of an intelligence program."
Murphy said that on July 7, DHS chief of staff John Gountanis emailed him telling him to "cease any dissemination of an intelligence notification regarding Russian disinformation efforts" until Murphy spoke to Wolf. The next day, Murphy said, he and Wolf met and Wolf told him the intel should be "held" because it "made the President look bad."
Murphy expressed opposition to Wolf's directive and said that as a result, Wolf began excluding him from future meetings on the subject. A draft intelligence assessment detailing foreign interference ahead of the 2020 election was put together without Murphy's involvement, the complaint said, and he believes it "attempts to place the actions of Russia on par with those of Iran and China in a manner that is misleading and inconsistent with the actual intelligence data."
White supremacists
Murphy's complaint also alleged that in March 2020, Wolf and Cuccinelli withheld a Homeland Treat Assessment (HTA) warning that white supremacists and Russian influence in the US were significant concerns to the DHS. Wolf and Cuccinelli prevented the HTA from being further distributed because they were concerned about how it would reflect on Trump, the complaint said. Murphy told his superior, former I&A undersecretary David Glawe, at the time that the two men's actions were an abuse of authority and Glawe agreed.
Glawe retired in May and Murphy subsequently took over as acting I&A undersecretary. When he asked Cuccinelli about the status of the HTA in May and June, Murphy's complaint said that Cuccinelli told him he needed to alter the section on white supremacists to make them seem like less of a threat, and also include information about violent "left-wing" groups. These interactions came as the country was rocked by nationwide protests against racism and police brutality following the death of 46-year-old George Floyd in police custody.
The president and his allies have repeatedly sought to paint the protests — most of which have been peaceful, though some have devolved into violence — as orchestrated by the far-left group antifa. Trump and multiple Republican lawmakers have called for law enforcement to crack down on the protests. Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton said they should be granted "no quarter," a military term that constitutes a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz compared demonstrators to terrorists and asked to "hunt them down like we do those in the Middle East."
Murphy told Cuccinelli he would not make the alterations to the HTA that he requested. In July, he declined a similar request from Wolf, the complaint said. Afterward, other DHS officials took over completing the HTA without consulting Murphy.
On July 31, Murphy's complaint said, Wolf told him he was considering reassigning him to the DHS's Management Division. The conversation came amid multiple media reports that said the DHS I&A collected surveillance on journalists covering the Floyd protests. Murphy said in his complaint that the reports were "significantly flawed" and "contained completely erroneous assertions."
He added that Wolf told him that even though he agreed the media reports were inaccurate, removing and reassigning Murphy would be "politically good" for Wolf, who wanted to be named DHS secretary. Murphy was reassigned on August 1, and the president officially nominated Wolf for DHS secretary on August 25 after a government watchdog said he was serving illegally in an acting capacity.
Trump's border wall
Murphy filed two anonymous OIG reports in November 2018 and May 2019 related to the administration's push to build a wall along the US's southern border with Mexico. The reports related to Nielsen, Wolf, Taylor, Marquadt, and then acting deputy DHS secretary Clare Grade. Murphy in his reports described "potential violations of law, including perjured testimony before Congress, as well as abuses of authority and improper administration of an intelligence program."
Specifically, Murphy said he was asked to provide intelligence to Nielsen that supported the White House's claim that known or suspected terrorists (KSTs) were pouring into the US through the southwest border. Murphy said he refused to manipulate or misuse a US intelligence program to suit the White House's political agenda.
Murphy also alleged that Nielsen intentionally gave false testimony to Congress about the threat of KSTs entering the US through the southern border on at least two occasions: once in December 2018 and once in March 2019.
He added that after he filed the two OIG reports, senior officials began discussing whether it would be possible to fire Murphy.
Murphy's complaint "alleges repeated violations of law and regulations, abuses of authority, attempted censorship of intelligence analysis, and improper administration of an intelligence program related to Russian efforts to influence the U.S. elections," Schiff said in his letter requesting a deposition. "Such allegations fall squarely within the unique oversight and legislative jurisdiction of the Committee and relate directly to the Committee's ongoing investigation and oversight of activities undertaken by I&A, including during Mr. Murphy's tenure."
The whistleblower complaint also accuses Cuccinelli of attempted abuse of authority and improper use of a US intelligence program connected to migrants entering the US from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. According to Murphy's complaint, Cuccinelli wanted intelligence reports that focused on corruption and violence in all three countries, and when they didn't contain that information, he suggested "deep state intelligence analysts" of compiling the reports to undermine Trump's talking points.
