Rep. Mike Conaway told House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff during the public impeachment hearings that he wanted to know the legal grounds on which Schiff refused to allow the naming of the whistleblower.
“Mr. Chairman, I would like, as a personal request, I request that you and/or one of your lawyers, one of the members of the committee, put into the record the federal statute that provides for the absolute immunity, right to immunity, that you’ve exerted over and over and over,” the Texas Republican said Tuesday. “I don’t think it’s there, but if it is, in fact, a federal statute and/or a brief that you can cite, put that in the record so that we’ll know that.”
Conaway then urged Schiff not to get angry with him and accuse him of wanting to out the whistleblower, saying, “I get upset every time you … accuse me, simply because I want to know the whistleblower, and I want to know what’s going on, that we want to out that individual. That’s unfair for you to make that accusation, and I get just as mad. This is about leveling the playing field between our two teams.”
The comments came as Schiff would routinely cut off Republican lawmakers who asked questions trying to discern the identity of the whistleblower. Republicans on the committee have claimed they do not know the whistleblower’s name but that Schiff does know the identity.
Eric Ciaramella, a career CIA analyst, has been alleged by several media outlets as the whistleblower. Ciaramella has been described as having a “bro-like” friendship with one of Schiff’s key aides, Sean Misko.
