President Trump on Sunday again called for the identity of the intelligence community whistleblower at the center of the House Democrats’ ongoing impeachment inquiry to be revealed.
“The Whistleblower got it sooo wrong that HE must come forward. The Fake News Media knows who he is but, being an arm of the Democrat Party, don’t want to reveal him because there would be hell to pay,” he tweeted.
“Reveal the Whistleblower and end the Impeachment Hoax!” Trump added.
His remarks come as Republicans continue to clash with Democrats over the identity of the whistleblower, whose complaints about the president’s interactions with Ukraine helped to ignite the inquiry launched six weeks ago.
“Ultimately, if someone’s going to accuse you of something that’s going to bring down a presidency, I think we deserve to know who that person is,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said in an interview last month.
{mosads}”I think there are reasons to have whistleblower statutes, and have anonymity. But if you’re accusing somebody of something with the ramifications of impeachment, I think really the person ought to come forward,” he added.
In a letter sent late last month to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (Calif.), who is one of the Democrats leading the inquiry, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and Michael McCaul (R-Texas) also demanded the whistleblower come forward to testify.
“You had earlier committed that the employee would provide ‘unfiltered’ testimony ‘very soon’ only to reverse course following revelations that the employee had a bias against President Donald Trump and that you had received a secret, early account of the allegations,” they wrote.
“As the so-called impeachment inquiry gathers information that contradicts the employee’s allegations, we ask that you arrange for the Committees to receive public testimony from the employee and all individuals he or she relied upon in formulating the complaint,” they added.
However, Democrats have begun to push back on the argument that testimony from the whistleblower is necessary for the inquiry following private appearances from foreign service officials who have confirmed allegations in the initial complaint.
“The president’s allies would like nothing better than to help the president out this whistleblower. Our committee will not be a part of that,” Schiff said last week. “They have the right to remain anonymous. They certainly should not be subject to these kinds of vicious attacks.”
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who sits on the Intelligence Committee, also contended that revealing the whistleblower’s identity would put them in “serious jeopardy.”
“And so the question is, … is that person’s life worth less than being redundant? And our position right now is that it’s not,” he added.
Trump in a subsequent tweet on Sunday morning again defended his call with Ukraine’s leader, saying it was “totally appropriate” and “perfect.”
“Many people listened to my phone call with the Ukrainian President while it was being made. I never heard any complaints. The reason is that it was totally appropriate, I say perfect,” he said. “Republicans have never been more unified, and my Republican Approval Rating is now 95%!”
Upon returning to the White House from New York on Sunday, Trump was asked if he was thinking about tweeting out the whistleblower’s name.
“Well, I’ll tell you what, there have been stories written about a certain individual, a male, and they say he’s the whistleblower. If he’s the whistleblower, he has no credibility,” he said on the South Lawn. “Now, maybe it’s not him but, if it’s him, you guys ought to release the information.”
–This report was updated at 1:05 p.m.