Atkinson sent two letters about the "whistleblower" to the House Intelligence committee instead of its Senate counterpart. During his January 2018 public testimony to the Senate Intelligence committee prior to his confirmation, Atkinson said if there was a dispute with the Director of National Intelligence about the veracity of a claim, he would "talk to this Committee if that situation arose to that level, to keep you informed about those events."

But Atkinson instead notified the highly-partisan House Intelligence committee led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the same lawmaker who has lied to the American people for three years about evidence of Russian collusion. In a letter dated September 9 addressed to Schiff and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), Atkinson alerted the committee that the acting Director of National Intelligence did not agree with Atkinson's judgment that the claim was an "urgent concern." (An assessment somewhat laughable now that the call's transcript is public.)

By the time that letter reached Schiff's office, however, the committee chairman already had made cryptic insinuations about the whistleblower. "Trump is withholding vital military aid to Ukraine, while his personal lawyer seeks help from the Ukraine government to investigate his political opponent," Schiff tweeted out of the blue on August 28, just two weeks after the "whistleblower" complaint was written. "It doesn't take a stable genius to see the magnitude of this conflict."

Subsequently, Atkinson sent another letter to Schiff and Nunes on September 17 which is best described as the IG tattling on the acting director for not responding the way Atkinson wanted him to respond.

Republicans should be raising several questions about Atkinson:

• Was he aware of or in any way involved in the Justice Department's investigation into the Trump campaign?
• Did he handle the FISA warrant against Carter Page?
• Did he know about the FISA on Page prior to April 2017?
• Did he meet with Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page or any of the collusion conspirators in 2016 or 2017?
• Was he aware of or involved in McCord's dealings with the White House regarding Michael Flynn?
• Why did he send letters to Democrat Adam Schiff and not Republican Senator Richard Burr, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee?
• Did Atkinson have any communications with Schiff prior to sending his September 7 letter?
• Why was the form documenting an "urgent concern" apparently edited around the time of the latest complaint?

Democrats are poised to begin the impeachment process based on this latest controversy. It's time for Republicans to uncover as much information as possible, including whether this scandal is an extension of the collusion hoax and whether it involves some of the very same players.

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While President Trump is now accusing Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) of 'helping to write' a CIA whistleblower's complaint at the heart of an impeachment inquiry, the New York Times is out with a Wednesday article designed to put distance between the House Intelligence Committee Chairman and the accusation - suggesting Schiff had no more than a vague sneak peek.

As The Times reports, "The Democratic head of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, learned about the outlines of a C.I.A. officer's concerns that President Trump had abused his power days before the officer filed a whistle-blower complaint," adding "the original accusation was vague," and "The aide did not share the whistle-blower's identity with Mr. Schiff or anyone else."

So - according to the Times, Schiff kinda sorta knew what the whistleblower said, and a House Intel Committee aide told him (or her) to get an attorney - Andrew Bakaj - who "interned for Schumer in the spring of 2001 and for Clinton in the fall of the same year," per The Federalist.

The Times goes to great lengths to explain that nothing was untoward.

"Like other whistle-blowers have done before and since under Republican and Democratic-controlled committees, the whistle-blower contacted the committee for guidance on how to report possible wrongdoing within the jurisdiction of the intelligence community," said Schiff spokesman Patrick Boland.

Trump, meanwhile, is gunning for Schiff.

On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said Mr. Schiff should be forced to resign for reading a parody of the Ukraine call at a hearing, an act Mr. Trump has called treasonous and criminal.

"We don't call him shifty Schiff for nothing," said Mr. Trump. "He's a shifty dishonest guy."

Mr. Schiff's aides followed procedures involving the C.I.A. officer's accusations, Mr. Boland said. They referred the C.I.A. officer to the inspector general for the intelligence community, Michael Atkinson, and advised him to seek legal counsel.

Mr. Schiff never saw the full complaint or knew precisely what the whistle-blower would deliver to Mr. Atkinson, Mr. Boland said. - NYT

GOP spokeswoman Elizabeth Harrington, meanwhile, responded to the Times' article - calling the whistleblower saga 'COLLUSION' and a 'CON JOB' in a Wednesday afternoon tweet.

Finally, if this process seems vaguely familiar, it's because it should be: as the Federalist's Sean Davis writes, this is a carbon copy of what happened with Christine Blasey Ford's accusations aimed at sabotaging Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation.