House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff accused President Trump of trying to incite violence against the whistleblower.
A CIA officer filed a whistleblower complaint against the president in August regarding his conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During the conversation, Trump asked Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who worked for a Ukrainian gas company that had faced allegations of corruption.
“This is a blatant effort to intimidate witnesses. It’s an incitement of violence, and I would hope — and we are starting to see — members of both parties speaking out against attacking this whistleblower or others that have pertinent information,” Schiff said Wednesday.
The president has repeatedly attacked the whistleblower as “partisan” and has repeatedly asked to know the individual’s identity. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley defended the whistleblower, arguing that “we should always work to respect whistleblowers’ requests for confidentiality.”
Trump tweeted on Tuesday that the “so-called” whistleblower “has all second hand information” and that “almost everything he has said about my ‘perfect’ call with the Ukrainian President is wrong.” Trump went on to question why the publicly isn’t “entitled” to interview the whistleblower.
So if the so-called “Whistleblower” has all second hand information, and almost everything he has said about my “perfect” call with the Ukrainian President is wrong (much to the embarrassment of Pelosi & Schiff), why aren’t we entitled to interview & learn everything about….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2019
Schiff had knowledge of the whistleblower complaint’s details before it was filed because the CIA officer went to one of the committee aides beforehand, it was reported Wednesday. Having learned such news, Trump accused Schiff of having helped write the complaint during a raucous Wednesday press conference with the Finnish president.
