President Trump told reporters he doesn’t know the name of the whistleblower who triggered a House impeachment investigation.
“I don’t know, but I know the whistleblower has been very inaccurate,” Trump told reporters Thursday at the White House in answer to a question by the Washington Examiner.
Trump has called for the person to be exposed after he disclosed through official channels concerns about a July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
During the call, Trump asked Zelensky to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who as vice president forced the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor who had investigated an energy company that employed his son Hunter Biden.
A whistleblower complaint submitted in August was released publicly last month, along with a rough transcript of the call. Trump described the transcript as exonerating, but his foes say it proves he improperly used his office to invite foreign election interference.
“The transcript is a perfect transcript, and there shouldn’t be any further questions,” Trump told reporters Thursday.
On Wednesday, Trump reacted to news that the whistleblower had a “professional” tie to a 2020 presidential candidate by calling for the unmasking of the person.
Trump tweeted: “The Whistleblower’s facts have been so incorrect about my ‘no pressure’ conversation with the Ukrainian President, and now the conflict of interest and involvement with a Democrat Candidate, that he or she should be exposed and questioned properly. This is no Whistleblower.”
The New York Times has reported that the whistleblower is a CIA employee formerly detailed to work at the White House, at one point working at the National Security Council. CNN reported the person is a registered Democrat.
