Intelligence panel Republican: ‘How we treat this whistleblower will impact whistleblowers in the future’

Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), a former CIA officer who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, on Sunday defended the whistleblower whose complaint helped spark the impeachment inquiry into President Trump even as he blasted Chairman Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) handling of the probe.

“I think we should be protecting the identity of the whistleblower… because how we treat this whistleblower will impact whistleblowers in the future,” Hurd told Fox’s Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday,” responding to Trump’s calls for the whistleblower to be outed.

“Having this whistleblower law on the books is important, it’s an important check and balance,” he added.

House Intel member Rep Will Hurd (R-TX) joined FOX News Sunday exclusively to react to President Trump's recent comments on the whistleblower. Rep Hurd says: "I think we should be protecting the identity of the whistleblower" #FNS #FoxNews #Politics pic.twitter.com/g8YMRPxjtz

— FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) November 10, 2019

{mosads}Hurd also backed up his fellow Republicans’ calls for Schiff to himself testify in the inquiry “about what was his engagement with the whistleblower before the whistleblower’s allegations were transmitted,” saying Schiff “has misled the American public.”

And he supported Republican calls for testimony from former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter.  Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens in a July phone call, leading to the whistleblower complaint.

“I think we should just turn over every rock and pursue every lead,” Hurd said on Sunday. “I would like to hear from Hunter Biden – I would love to hear from the other Americans who served on the board of Burisma,” he added, referencing the Ukrainian natural gas firm upon whose board the younger Biden served.

After Wallace pressed him on whether withholding approved aid to Ukraine to pressure Kiev to investigate a conspiracy theory about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election, which acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney claimed before walking it back, Hurd conceded that it was “an understanding based on debunked information” but added that it is unclear whether it was illegal.

“I think if you’re trying to get info on a political rival to use in a political campaign, [that] is not something a president or any official should be doing,” Hurd said, adding that he would reserve judgment on “whether impeachment is the right tool or not.”