President Trump echoed calls from congressional Republicans to bring the whistleblower to Capitol Hill to testify in the House Democrats’ impeachment investigation.
Through a lawyer, the whistleblower offered to answer House Republicans’ questions in writing in order to appear bipartisan and remain anonymous. House Oversight Committee ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan declined the offer, asserting the whistleblower should testify in person considering their importance to the impeachment proceedings.
The whistleblower kicked off the impeachment hearings by filing a complaint about a July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, alleging Trump attempted to leverage U.S. military aid in exchange for the country launching investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden, which could be politically beneficial to him as Biden is a 2020 front-runner in the general election.
Trump backed Republicans’ decision on Monday morning.
“The Whistleblower gave false information & dealt with corrupt politician Schiff. He must be brought forward to testify. Written answers not acceptable!” Trump tweeted, referring to Democratic House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff.
“Where is the 2nd Whistleblower? He disappeared after I released the transcript. Does he even exist? Where is the informant? Con!” Trump added, referencing an alleged second whistleblower claimed to have come forward by attorney Mark Zaid, who is representing the first whistleblower.
The Whistleblower gave false information & dealt with corrupt politician Schiff. He must be brought forward to testify. Written answers not acceptable! Where is the 2nd Whistleblower? He disappeared after I released the transcript. Does he even exist? Where is the informant? Con!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2019
“Written answers will not provide a sufficient opportunity to probe all the relevant facts and cross-examine the so-called whistleblower,” Jordan said Sunday in a statement. “You don’t get to ignite an impeachment effort and never account for your actions and role in orchestrating it. We have serious questions about this individual’s political bias and partisan motivations, and it seems Mark Zaid and Adam Schiff are attempting to hide these facts from public scrutiny
Zaid responded in a statement to the Washington Examiner: “The GOP is unfortunately far more interested in deflection and disinformation than substantively responding to the facts of the whistleblower’s complaint.
“In fact, we’ve had no contact with Congressman Schiff on this matter. Indeed, my last contact with him was years ago when I represented the CIA Benghazi whistleblowers and worked closely with Congressmen Nunes and Gowdy. The Democrats never threatened whistleblowers then and it is disgraceful to see Republicans do so now.”
