Republicans push for whistleblower’s identity, agenda

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and his congressional allies have created an uneasy tension on Capitol Hill around a push to out the whistleblower whose report launched the House impeachment inquiry, in the days since a right-wing outlet reported a name and work history without direct confirmation.

Trump, at the White House on Sunday, discussed the details of the report but didn’t mention the name and twice added: “I don’t know if that’s true or not.” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, mentioned a resume item at a Republican news conference Friday and on Fox News on Tuesday but didn’t say the name.

And Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., after he called on the media at a Trump rally to name the whistleblower, told CQ Roll Call on Tuesday that he “probably will” publicly name the person mentioned in the article, but declined to say if he knew for sure if it was correct.

“Well, you go ask him. You’ll go do some investigative reporting,” Paul said, turning to a group of reporters. “You all could go knock on the guy’s house. Raise your hand if you’ve knocked on the guy’s house and ask him if he’s the whistleblower.”

Yet lawmakers have avoided repeating the reported name themselves for a mix of legal, institutional and political reasons, even beyond the possibility they might not be certain of the person’s identity.

Democrats as well as Sen. Charles Grassley ofIowa and other Republicans pushed back Tuesday against the calls to out the whistleblower, amid worries that the threat of exposure will discourage future whistleblowers and hurt congressional oversight efforts for administrations to come.

Andrew Bakaj, the whistleblower’s attorney, responded to Paul’s comments Tuesday with a legal threat of sorts, tweeting that the senator “will be personally responsible for anything harmful that happens.”

And in a heated atmosphere where Trump’s tweets have raised safety concerns for lawmakers and others, a lawmaker doesn’t want to be the one who brushed aside a whistle-blower’s desire to be anonymous if the person or their family is harmed.

“This person’s life could be in danger, and I think they know that. And I think that’s not responsible,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine. “I find this disappointing because it’s going to be adisincentive for future people to come forward, whatever the issue is.”

The issue has become central to Trump’s self-defense as the impeachment inquiry accelerates in the House and Democrats prepare to take their case to the public. Trump said the “whistleblower should be revealed because the whistleblower gave false stories. Some people would call it a fraud; I won’t go that far.”

Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, tweeted the name on Wednesday morning, along with a link to astory from the right-wing Breitbart site about the whistle-blower that relies on the name reported Thursday by Real Clear Investigations. The whistleblower’s lawyers immediately responded, saying they would not confirm or deny any name.

Trump, answering questions before departing on Marine One on Sunday, amplified the right-wing report but distanced himself from it and put the burden on the media to find out.

“But what they said is he’s an Obama person. It was involved with Brennan; Susan Rice, which means Obama. But he was like a big — a big anti-Trump person. Hated Trump. And they — they said terrible things,” Trump said. “Now, I don’t know if it’s true or not, but that was reported by some of the media, so you’ll have to find out.”

Jordan and other congressional Republicans say the whistleblower’s identity is critical to members of Congress judging the credibility during an impeachment inquiry. The Ohio Republican said on Fox News that the whistleblower “has a bias against the president.”

“One of the ways you determine someone’s credibility to determine what their motivation is, what kind of bias they have, is they need to be under oath answering your questions,” Jordan said.

Democrats counter that the secondhand information the whistleblower provided has been verified by other witnesses and so the person’s identity doesn’t matter to the impeachment inquiry.