Andrew P. Bakaj

Andrew P. Bakaj (/bɑːkɑːi/; b. 1982) is a Washington, DC attorney and former intelligence officer with the Central Intelligence Agency. He was the principal attorney representing the whistleblower who filed the initial complaint that led to the launch of multiple investigations by the United States Congress into the Trump–Ukraine scandal, the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, and, ultimately, the first Impeachment of Donald Trump.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Andrew P. Bakaj
Born
Andrew Peter Bakaj

Stamford, Connecticut
NationalityAmerican
EducationThe George Washington University (BA)
Syracuse University (JD)
OccupationAttorney
Known forLead counsel for the Whisteblower during the Impeachment Inquiry and the subsequent first Impeachment of President Donald Trump

Bakaj is the founding and managing partner of Compass Rose Legal Group. He represented multiple whistleblowers in the U.S. House of Representatives investigations into the Trump Administration.[7][8][9] Previously while serving as a U.S. government official, he designed the legal and investigative apparatus to protect intelligence community whistleblowers.[2]

Early Life and Education

Bakaj was born in Stamford, Connecticut and is a graduate of Trinity Catholic High School. He subsequently went on to attend The George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, DC from which he earned a bachelor's degree in International Affairs with a concentration in National Security Policy. Bakaj earned his Juris Doctorate from Syracuse University College of Law in Syracuse, New York, specializing in both national security law and public international law.[10][11]

Career

As a student attending The George Washington University, Bakaj interned for three United States Senators: Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Charles Schumer, and Hillary Clinton. Bakaj's internship with Clinton coincided with the September 11 attacks, and he worked directly for her foreign policy advisor. Subsequently, in 2002, Bakaj served the Department of State overseas with the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine. During his tour and while traveling to L’viv, Ukraine on mission, a deadly air show accident occurred at the Sknyliv Airfield. Due to his proficiency in Ukrainian and proximity to the disaster, Bakaj coordinated with the Embassy in Kyiv to secure emergency aid from the United States.[12]

Bakaj continued his public service while in law school, clerking with the Department of Justice. Upon graduating law school, he became a government official with the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General and subsequently the Central Intelligence Agency Office of Inspector General.[12]

While with the Department of Defense, Bakaj created the department's legal and investigative framework for national security whistleblower reprisal investigations. As a consequence of this accomplishment, the Department of Defense recognized him with a Career Achievement Award. The program he developed became the model for what would eventually become Presidential Policy Directive 19 (PPD-19), Protecting Whistleblowers with Access to Classified Information, issued by President Barack Obama in 2012. Bakaj eventually transitioned to the CIA where he created a whistleblower protection program modeled on the one he developed at the Defense Department so as to comply with the directive.[12]

In 2014, Bakaj was instrumental in protecting CIA officers within the Office of Inspector General who reported misconduct within their chain-of-command and, ultimately, to him. The disclosures included allegations that individuals within his own office (the CIA Office of Inspector General) fabricated evidence in a federal criminal investigation in order to obtain a false prosecution.[13]

In elevating the matter, he protected the whistleblowers who disclosed the information to him. Because he refused to compromise their identity, Bakaj himself was ultimately reprised against by then-Inspector General David B. Buckley, an Obama appointee.[14]

In 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Christopher Sharpley to assume the role of CIA Inspector General. Shortly after Sharpley's confirmation hearing, Bakaj presented evidence to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence establishing that Sharpley was less than candid during his confirmation hearing. As a result of Bakaj's disclosure, the White House subsequently withdrew Sharpley's nomination. In 2018 Sharpley resigned from the CIA.[15]

In 2019, a years-long investigation found that Buckley illegally reprised against Bakaj.[14]

Upon transitioning from government service, Bakaj assumed the role as Special Of Counsel with Mark S. Zaid, P.C. and founded Compass Rose Legal Group, PLLC.

Impeachment Inquiry Against President Donald Trump

Bakaj was lead counsel representing the whistleblower who filed the initial complaint that led to the launch of multiple investigations by the United States Congress into the Trump–Ukraine scandal, the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, and, ultimately, the first Impeachment of Donald Trump.[3][4][5][6][16]

A friend of the whistleblower, who is an attorney and an expert on national security law, referred the whistleblower to Bakaj, who had more expertise on whistleblower procedure and law. Bakaj provided the whistleblower guidance on filing the complaint. On August 11, 2019, per Bakaj's guidance, the whistleblower filed the complaint with the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (IGIC).[17] The whistleblower's complaint was deemed credible and a matter of "urgent concern" by the IGIC.[18] Under federal law, when the IGIC determines that an complaint credibly raises an urgent concern, he or she forwards it to the relevant agency head (here, the DNI), who is required to forward it to the congressional intelligence committees within seven days.[19] In this case, however, Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, withheld the complaint from Congress.[20]

On September 9, 2019, Bakaj hand-delivered a letter informing the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the complaint's existence and that “The ICIG has informed [Bakaj] that . . . . my client’s disclosure will not be transmitted to Congress because the Acting Director of National Intelligence views the matter as 'outside the scope' of the applicable whistleblower statute". The next day, the committee's Democratic chairman, Adam Schiff, wrote Maguire demanding the release the complaint, and was rebuffed. Maguire later testified that the White House counsel had told him he could not release the whistle-blower's complaint to Congress because it was covered by executive privilege. Schiff went public. Facing a subpoena, the DNI finally released the complaint to Congress on September 25, 2019.[21]

On September 24, 2019, because his client's complaint was being blocked from transmittal to Congress, Bakaj sent a letter to Maguire providing "formal notice" of his intent to contact congressional intelligence committees directly concerning the matter. The following day the White House authorized the complaint be transmitted to congress.[22]

On November 7, 2019, Bakaj sent a letter to the White House warning President Trump to "cease and desist" calling for the public disclosure of the whistleblower's identity and "engaging in rhetoric and activity that places the whistleblower and their family in physical danger." He said the president would be legally and morally liable if anyone were to be "physically harmed as a result of his, or his surrogates', behavior."[23]

It has been reported that Bakaj and his co-counsel, Mark Zaid, have received death threats that are being investigated by the FBI.[21]

In a New York Times OpEd on March 2, 2020, Bakaj advocated protecting, expanding, and enhancing federal whistleblower protection laws.[24]

In a Washington Post OpEd on April 14, 2020, Bakaj expressed concern about the purging of Inspectors General following Michael Atkinson's firing by President Trump, stating that "alarm bells should be going off". Bakaj and authors Zaid and John Tye discussed the impact of such actions. In light of the President questioning the independence and integrity of the Health and Human Services Inspector General and removing Glenn A. Fine as chairman overseeing the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a position for which he was selected by his peers, they wrote about the need for effective government oversight during the COVID-19 Global Pandemic.[25]

Other Notable Casework

Bakaj is among the attorneys representing Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Vindman, whose twin brother Alexander Vindman served as a key witness in President Donald Trump's first impeachment, in a whistleblower reprisal complaint filed with the Pentagon's Inspector General. The complaint alleges Vindman was retaliated against by the President and senior White House officials for his role as a whistleblower.[26] Bakaj is also a member of the team representing Brian Murphy, the former Acting Under Secretary for the Office of Intelligence and Analysis with the Department of Homeland Security. Murphy alleges that he was told to avoid intelligence assessments on Russia and white supremacists.[27][28] Bakaj has also been involved in representing U.S diplomats who have been impacted by the Havana Syndrome in Cuba.[12]

See also

References
  1. "Whistle-Blower Complaint Is Said to Involve Trump and Ukraine". The New York Times. September 19, 2019. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  2. McLaughlin, Jenna (September 19, 2019). "An attorney forced out of the CIA's watchdog office is representing the Trump whistleblower". Yahoo News. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  3. Kwong, Jessica (September 25, 2019). "Who is the Ukraine whistleblower's attorney? Andrew Bakaj Represents Group Dedicated to Helping Whistleblowers". Newsweek. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  4. www.bloomberg.com https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-06/new-whistle-blowers-may-be-poised-to-come-forward-in-trump-saga. Retrieved October 29, 2019. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. Morin, Rebecca. "Whistleblower attorney expresses 'serious concerns' over client safety to acting DNI". USA TODAY. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  6. Crawford, Shannon K. (September 30, 2019). "Trump whistleblower's lawyers have 'serious concerns' for client's personal safety". ABC News. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  7. Bakaj, Andrew P.; Zaid, Mark S. (October 25, 2019). "We represent the whistleblower. Their identity is no longer relevant". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  8. ""Multiple whistleblowers" emerge in Trump-Ukraine case, lawyers say". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  9. Volz, Dustin. "Attorneys for CIA Officer Behind Trump Complaint Say They Now Represent 'Multiple Whistleblowers'". WSJ. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  10. "Impeachment Whistleblower's Lawyer Grew Up in Stamford". Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  11. "Andrew P. Bakaj, the Whistleblower's Lawyer: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  12. "Bakaj Bio". Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  13. Valentino-DeVries, Jennifer (November 1, 2017). "Administrations Nominee For CIA Watchdog Allegedly Misled Congress". ProPublica. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  14. McLaughlin, Jenna (September 12, 2019). "Rare external investigation finds wrongdoing in the CIA's watchdog office". Yahoo News. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  15. McLaughlin, Jenna (July 20, 2018). "CIA watchdog withdraws nomination after allegations of retaliation against colleagues". CNN. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  16. "Lawyer for CIA officer accusing Trump on Ukraine worked with Biden on 2007 whistleblower complaint". Washington Examiner. October 29, 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  17. "How a CIA analyst, alarmed by Trump's shadow foreign policy, triggered an impeachment inquiry". The Washington Post. November 16, 2019. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  18. Mary Clare Jalonick, Acting intelligence chief agrees to testify after subpoena, Associated Press (September 18, 2019).
  19. Kel McClanahan, Q&A on Whistleblower Complaint Being Withheld from Congressional Intelligence Committees, Just Security (September 17, 2019).
  20. Kyle Cheney, Schiff accuses top intel official of illegally withholding 'urgent' whistleblower complaint, Politico(September 13, 2019).
  21. "Guardians of the Year: The Public Servants". Time. December 23, 2019. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  22. "Whistleblower claimed that Trump abused his office and that White House officials tried to cover it up". The Washington Post. September 26, 2019. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  23. LeBlanc, Paul (November 7, 2019). "Lawyer for Ukraine whistleblower sends White House cease and desist letter to stop Trump's attacks". CNN. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
  24. Andrew P. Bakaj and Mark S. Zaid,We Represented the Whistle-Blower. The Law Needs Urgent Help, The New York Times (March 1, 2020, Online Edition); Those Who Tell Need Urgent Help, The New York Times, March 2, 2020, at Section A, Page 27 (Print Edition).
  25. Bakaj, Andrew P.; Zaid, Mark S.; Tye, John (April 14, 2020). "Trump's purge of inspectors general is a crisis. Alarm bells should be going off everywhere". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  26. Bertrand, Natasha (August 26, 2020). "Vindman twin accused top NSC officials of misconduct, claims retaliation". Politico. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
  27. "Whistleblower Reprisal Complaint" (PDF). September 8, 2020. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
  28. "Brian Murphy's Attorney On DHS Whistleblower Complaint". NPR. September 9, 2020. Retrieved December 22, 2020.

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