Supreme Court Justice John Roberts on Wednesday blocked an attempt by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) to pose questions regarding the so-called “whistleblower” — the individual who sparked the House Democrats’ partisan impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump — according to reports.
Politico and The Hill state that Roberts indicated he would oppose reading Paul’s questions, as it is believed that he would be forced to name or provide identifying information on the alleged individual.
Speaking to reporters following a Republican dinner, Paul signaled that he may still fight to have his question read.
“It’s still an ongoing process; it may happen tomorrow,” he told reporters.
However, other Senate Republicans, include Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-SD), appear to have sided with Roberts over Paul.
“I don’t think that happens, and I guess I would hope that it doesn’t,” Thune said when asked if the so-called “whistleblower” will be named.
Roberts has not offered any legal argument for hiding the individual’s identity. As Breitbart News has repeatedly explained, the only statutory protection for people who submit whistleblower complaints is that the intelligence community inspector general (ICIG) cannot name him or her publicly:
Even left-wing mainstream media outlets—CNN, the New York Times, National Public Radio (NPR), and Reuters — determined that, certainly, no law prohibits President Donald Trump or members of Congress from disclosing the name of the leaker who sparked the impeachment inquiry.
Even Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) confirmed this fact by reading a passage from the Washington Post into the record of the House impeachment hearings which states: “That appears to be the lone statutory restriction on disclosing a whistleblower’s identity, applicable only to the inspector general’s office. We found no court rulings on whether whistleblowers have a right to anonymity under the ICWPA or related statutes.”
Further, Breitbart’s Senior Editor-at-Large Joel Pollak has written that President Trump has a right under the Sixth Amendment to confront his accuser at a trial where he is the defendant. He explains: “even if the Chief Justice were to rule that it does not, the Senate can overrule him. If the president wants to call the whistleblower to testify, he will likely have to do so.”
In October, RealClearInvestigations published an individual’s name whom author Paul Sperry believes is likely the “whistleblower” — Eric Ciaramella, an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), who worked for the National Security Council under the Obama and Trump administrations.
During the Senate impeachment trial’s second day of questions, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT) asked President Donald Trump’s legal team if House Intelligence Committee staffers and the “alleged whistleblower were employed by or detailed to the National Security Council during the same time period between January 2017 and the present? Do you have reason to believe they knew each other?”
The two Republican senators also asked if there is “any reason to believe” that the so-called “whistleblower” and an Intelligence Community staffers “coordinated to fulfill their reported commitment to quote, ‘Do everything we can to take out the president,’ end quote?”
White House deputy counsel Patrick Philbin replied that “the only knowledge that we have, that I have of this, comes from public reports.”
“I gather there is a news report in some publication that suggests a name for the whistleblower, suggests where he worked, that he worked at that time while detailed of the NSC staff for then-vice president Biden and there were others who worked there,” Philbin added.
Later, Cruz, along with Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Jerry Moran (R-KS), asked if House Intelligence Committee Chairman and Lead Impeachment Manager Adam Schiff knew whether the alleged whistleblower worked “at any point for or with” former Vice President Joe Biden.
When it was Schiff’s turn to address the upper chamber, he claimed to not know who the “whistleblower” is or to have ever communication with him.
“I don’t know who the whistleblower is, I haven’t met them or communicated with them in any way,” he said.
However, as the New York Times reported, the “whistleblower” sought assistance from a House Intelligence Committee staffer with second-hand information regarding President Trump’s July 25 telephone all with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky — the basis of a complaint later submitted to the intelligence community.
The House Intelligence Committee chair has repeatedly denied that his staff assisted the “whistleblower” in any capacity.
“The committee staff did not write the complaint or coach the whistleblower what to put in the complaint,” he stated, before decrying the accusations as a “conspiracy theory.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), one of the president’s staunchest defends against impeachment, accused Schiff of lying about his contacts with the “whistleblower.”
Stunning that Adam Schiff lies to millions of Americans when he says he doesn’t know the identity of the whistleblower.
He absolutely knows the identity of the whistleblower b/c he coordinated with the individual before the whistleblower’s complaint! His staff helped write it!
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) January 29, 2020
“Stunning that Adam Schiff lies to millions of Americans when he says he doesn’t know the identity of the whistleblower,” Stefanik wrote. “He absolutely knows the identity of the whistleblower because he coordinated with the individual before the whistleblower’s complaint! His staff helped write it!”
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