House Democrats are considering extreme measures to protect the identity of a whistleblower after the intelligence official who raised concerns about President Trump urging Ukraine to investigate his political rival agreed to answer questions.
Aides for the House Intelligence Committee, led by Democratic Chairman Adam Schiff, are discussing the possibility of having the whistleblower testify somewhere off-site from Capitol Hill and in a staff-only session that would prevent lawmakers from asking questions, according to the Washington Post.
Another idea being tossed around is to have the whistleblower in a separate location and obscure his or her image and voice with technology in a video or audio-only setup. The whistleblower could also be asked to sit behind a partition or screen.
Democrats are said to be concerned that their Republican colleagues would leak the identity of the whistleblower, who is reportedly a CIA official. GOP members of the panel are upset that Schiff had foreknowledge of the whistleblower’s complaint and misled them about what he knew. Republicans have also accused Democrats of making “cherry-picked” disclosures.
Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, told the Washington Examiner last week that the Democrats are conducting impeachment in secret in order to hide their paucity of evidence against Trump. “I call it faux impeachment,” the California Republican said. “By running it in the House Intelligence Committee, they’re trying to keep all of the information from the American public. And I understand why, because every witness we have that comes in bombs out for them.”
The lawyers representing the whistleblower, who are also in talks with the Senate intelligence panel, have raised concerns about their client’s safety. Andrew Bakaj, the lead attorney for the whistleblower, wrote to acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maquire late last month claiming his client was “in harm’s way” by Trump and his supporters.
Trump has said he wants to know the identity of the whistleblower and alluded to punishment for spies. “I want to know who’s the person who gave the whistleblower the information because that’s close to a spy,” the president said last month. “You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart with spies and treason, right? We used to handle it a little differently than we do now.”
In recent days, a second whistleblower has come forward and is being represented by the same legal team led by Bakaj. Mark Zaid, another attorney is working with Bakaj, said the second whistleblower has firsthand knowledge of the events detailed in the first whistleblower’s complaint and has met with the Intelligence Community’s watchdog Michael Atkinson.
