Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Adam Schiff says whistleblower will testify before House Intelligence panel ‘very soon’

September 30, 2019

The so-called “whistleblower” who prompted the Democrats’ sudden push for President Donald Trump’s impeachment could soon step out of the shadows.

The Washington Examiner reports that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told ABC over the weekend that the whistleblower, who has accused President Trump of “soliciting interference” in the 2020 election from Ukraine, could testify “very soon” before the House Intelligence Committee. Meanwhile, Democrats are taking steps to conceal the identity of the whistleblower, who has so far only been identified as a male CIA officer.

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Whistleblower or Deep State operative?

For their part, Trump and his allies have claimed that the whistleblower is a “Deep State” operative or spy who is working in tandem with the Democrats and the media to take down the president. And so far, Democrats are not exactly attempting to counter that impression.

Schiff said arrangements for the whistleblower to testify were being finalized and that precautions were being taken to let the official share his “unfiltered” testimony — while remaining concealed behind a wall of secrecy.

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“We are taking all the precautions we can to protect the whistleblower’s identity,” Schiff said, according to reports from The Hill and Fox News. “With President Trump’s threats, you can imagine the security concerns here.”

Schiff did not set a date for the whistleblower to appear, but explained that Democrats are waiting for Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Joseph Maguire to approve security clearances for the whistleblower’s attorneys. The whistleblower’s lawyers have said that talks with Congress are ongoing, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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“Drain the swamp!”

For his part, the infamous whistleblower has accused President Trump of asking the president of Ukraine in a July phone call to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. Republicans have zeroed in on several issues with the whistleblower’s complaint, beginning with the fact that the accusation is based on second- and thirdhand knowledge of the events it describes.

While one claim has been verified by the White House — that President Trump “locked down” the transcript of the phone call — much else is unverified and based on public media reports or conversations the whistleblower had with unidentified “officials.”

In addition to the uncorroborated nature of the allegations, the whistleblower has a reported indication of political bias against President Trump. A report from Sean Davis of The Federalist alleging that the intelligence community quietly removed the requirement for whistleblowers to have firsthand knowledge of wrongdoing earlier this year has further set off alarm bells among Republicans, who see troubling signs of a Russia hoax repeat, and even the president himself.

The Ukraine story is simple to understand and has the appearance of something fresh — at least compared with Russiagate, which collapsed after two years of inconclusive, confusing investigations that grew tiresome in the eyes of the American public. But Republicans say that the scandal is a mere sequel to the Russia story — just another attempt by Democrats to oust Trump from office with false charges of treason.

Indeed, Trump and his allies say that the president merely wanted to investigate corruption in Ukraine and that the Democrats are wrongly protecting Biden from scrutiny for political reasons. Biden himself boasted in 2018 about having a prosecutor fired who was investigating a nuclear company, Burisma Holdings, for which his son Hunter sat on the board.

Now, as the president and his allies blast the whistleblower as a “Deep State” spy attempting to stage a soft coup against the president rather than a genuine “whistleblower,” President Trump is demanding a chance to meet with his accuser. Will Democrats give Trump that chance, or will they allow an anonymous official to accuse the president of treason from behind the curtain?