The two attorneys representing the official who reported the phone call that spurred an impeachment investigation of the president urged Congress to bolster protections for future whistleblowers.
Andrew Bakaj and Mark Zaid wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times calling for Congress to strengthen whistleblower protection laws, arguing that their former client faced a “sustained campaign of intimidation” after filing a complaint about President Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Our former client faced, and still faces, a sustained public campaign of intimidation — including repeated tweets by President Trump and other senior figures that the whistle-blower must be publicly outed — despite having participated in an established and encouraged process that guaranteed them certain protections under the law,” the attorneys wrote. “Even members of Congress, individuals within the very body that created the statutory protections that exist for whistle-blowers, sought to expose the whistle-blower for political purposes and created harmful doubts concerning the integrity of the system.”
Bakaj and Zaid discussed how Joseph Maguire, the former acting director of national intelligence, said the whistleblower they represented “acted in good faith and followed the law every step of the way.” They said harassment by Trump and his allies could scare away potential whistleblowers who, in the future, might consider alerting Congress when they witness wrongdoing in the executive branch.
“When certain members of Congress attack a lawful whistle-blower, as our former client is, they jeopardize their own constitutional right to conduct oversight over the executive branch and intelligence-related matters,” they wrote. “Rather than weakening the system, members of Congress should seek to strengthen it so they can be effective in their constitutionally mandated oversight role.”
Republicans raised concerns about the whistleblower after learning the official sought guidance from a member of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s staff before filing a complaint with the Intelligence Community inspector general. Some demanded to know the name of the official, while others spread the name of a CIA official they believed was the whistleblower.
The two attorneys urged Congress to pass additional laws protecting whistleblowers, including “imposing penalties for exposing or intimidating lawful whistle-blowers and their attorneys.” This change would have benefited Zaid, who was targeted by Trump after his old tweets revealed that he supported an impeachment “coup” against the president. At least one person was charged with threatening Zaid after the president singled him out.
The two attorneys also called for the creation of a “more direct path for intelligence community employees to report wrongdoing to Congress involving White House officials and even the president.”
The Ukraine whistleblower’s identity was never publicly confirmed. The House impeached Trump on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress charges, but the Senate acquitted him on both impeachment articles.
The two attorneys called whistleblowers the “foundation of our democracy,” writing: “We hope our former client’s moral courage and personal integrity will inspire others to follow the law and speak up when they see something they reasonably believe to be wrong. All government leaders should encourage the process: Protecting whistle-blowers should never be a partisan activity. Lawful whistle-blowers should always — always — be protected from reprisal.”
