Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted Republicans for demanding the whistleblower, who filed a complaint against President Trump over a July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, be identified.
“The calls to make public the whistleblower’s identity are despicable,” the New York Democrat told reporters Tuesday. “The whole purpose of the whistleblower law was to protect people when they had the courage to come forward.”
Trump and Republican Sen. Rand Paul at a Lexington, Kentucky, rally Monday both called for the whistleblower to be named.
“Do your job and print his name!” Paul shouted at the press during the rally.
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on Tuesday echoed those views.
“I don’t think the president of the United States needs to be impeached based on an anonymous complaint,” Graham told reporters. “There is no substitute for us knowing who the whistleblower is. What connections does he have to other people? What are the biases, if any? You cannot do this without the whistleblower being cross-examined.”
Schumer, however, argued the whistleblower was coming forward because “he was so concerned about where President Trump was leading America, and every single Republican senator, including the Republican leader ought to denounce this.”
“This has nothing to do with answering questions about the status of impeachment or the status of the trial,” Schumer said. “This has to do with what America is all about and a law that was passed in a bipartisan way. Whistleblowers should be protected. Period. Period. And no one knows who he is or if you do, you should let me know.”
