Nunes: Intel IG needs to fess up about whistleblower

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif.

Intelligence community Inspector General Michael Atkinson needs to be forthright about inconsistencies in his handling of the Ukraine whistleblower's complaint, U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif, said Wednesday night.

"From the time that the whistleblower first came forward, to the IG, where the forms didn't match, it wasn't urgent, didn't have any firsthand knowledge, the form later changed, then it was backdated ... then we had to hear from the whistleblower and then we didn't have to hear from the whistleblower," Nunes said in an interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham.

"The very origins of this investigation are shady and don't make any sense." He said.

The whistleblower, reported to be CIA analyst Eric Ciaramella, filed a complaint regarding President Trump's July phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. The whistleblower did not listen to the call, but based on second-hand information, he charged that Trump threatened to withhold aid to pressure Zelensky to investigate Hunter Biden's profiting from a Ukrainian company while his father was Obama's point man for Ukraine policy.

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The complaint is at the center of the two articles of impeachment passed by Democrats last month, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Nunes previously disclosed that Atkinson's handling of the complaint is under "active investigation."

The complaint form was changed from requiring firsthand information to allowing hearsay. And House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff's team had contact with the whistleblower before the complaint was filed.

The congressman pointed out that Republican members already have written to Atkinson regarding the alterations.

Nunes said that if he were Atkinson, he would provide full documentation to prove there was nothing nefarious going on when the complaint was processed in September.

"You have to either believe he is in on it or he is incompetent," he told Fox News.