Washington (CNN) At the heart of the politely contentious House Intelligence Committee hearing with acting Director of National of Intelligence Joseph Maguire on Thursday was this question: Is the President, in practical terms, above the law?

At issue was this conundrum, posed by Maguire to the committee:

1) A whistleblower filed a formal complaint to the intelligence community inspector general (ICIG, to the cool kids in the know) alleging that Trump had abused the power of his office by pushing Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe and his son, Hunter Biden. (There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Biden).

2) The ICIG sent the complaint to Maguire, having judged the complaint against Trump to be credible and of "urgent concern." Which, by law, would mean Maguire turns the complaint over the House and Senate Intelligence committees within a week.

3) Maguire pauses, however, concerned that the complaint, because it deals with Trump (and, therefore, the executive branch), is outside of his purview as head of the intelligence community.

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