House Democrats are allegedly looking for ways in order to hide the whistleblower’s identity from their Republican colleagues to prevent a loyalist to President Donald Trump from leaking the whistleblower’s identity to the public, Fox News informed.
The Washington Post informed that Democrats are considering this move that shows the toxic relationship between the two main political parties in the U.S.
It is still not clear how the whistleblower’s identity would be hidden from the Republicans during the testimony. The whistleblower might testify from an undisclosed location and editing might be used to alter their face and voice.
“[Rep. Adam] Schiff does not want to burn his identity,” a senior congressional official told the paper.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has promised to reveal the anonymous whistleblowers against Trump if Democrats go forward with the impeachment.
Protecting the whistleblower’s identity has been the main issue in the impeachment probe. The President has been accused of withholding about $400 million in military aid from Ukraine in order to pressure Kiev to probe the Bidens.
Trump rejected the accusations and published a reconstructed transcript of his July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump and his attorneys state that the transcript offers vindication, but Democrats were concerned by the part where Trump tells Zelensky, “I would like you to do us a favor though.”
Trump stated that he wants to meet the whistleblower. Republicans had suspicions when the person did not disclose contact with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s staff to the intelligence committee inspector general.
Sources told Fox News that ICIG Michael Atkinson revealed that the whistleblower voluntarily shared that he or she was a registered Democrat and had a prior working ties with a prominent Democratic politician.
Schiff’s office later acknowledged that the whistleblower tried to contact them before filing a complaint in mid-August, giving Democrats advance warning of the accusations that would lead them to launch an impeachment inquiry days later.
Schiff previously said that “we have not spoken directly to the whistleblower,” although his office later narrowed the claim, saying that Schiff himself “does not know the identity of the whistleblower, and has not met with or spoken with the whistleblower or their counsel” for any reason.
On Sept. 28, the group that represents the whistleblower – Compass Rose Legal Group – sent a letter to the acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire about the need to protect their client.
“The purpose of this letter is to formally notify you of serious concerns we have regarding our client’s personal safety. We appreciate your office’s support thus far to activate appropriate resources to ensure their safety,” the letter said, in one part.
The letter did not specifically mention the “support” or “resource” that were offered.
The letter stated that there’s a $50,000 bounty for information about the client. It was signed by Andrew P. Bakaj, the lead attorney in the case.
An after-hours email from Fox News to Mark Zaid, another lawyer representing the whistleblower, was not immediately returned.
“As far as we are concerned, any meetings with the whistleblower and the intelligence oversight committees will have the same conditions from us for both Republicans and Democrats. We are not playing partisan games, and our primary concern is the protection of our client,” Zaid told the paper earlier.
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