President Trump claimed “everybody knows” who the alleged whistleblower is despite hesitation from many media outlets to publish the name.
During an interview on the Dan Bongino Show on Friday, Trump argued that everyone knows multiple reports have identified Eric Ciaramella as the whistleblower, though he did not name him himself.
“When you hear about this whistleblower, you know, everyone in Washington knows who it is by the way. You know, the whistleblower is no great secret,” he said. “The fake news doesn’t want to print it.”
Trump went on to claim that if a “reverse type whistleblower” had alerted a problem in a Democratic office, the media would publish the name of the person.
“Everybody knows who the whistleblower is, and [it] has to be revealed,” said Trump.
Listen to Trump’s comments on the whistleblower below, starting at 10:30.
The alleged whistleblower was identified last month by RealClearInvestigations as Eric Ciaramella, a 33-year-old career CIA analyst who worked under President Barack Obama as the Ukraine director on the National Security Council. The Washington Examiner reported that Ciaramella now works as a deputy national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia on the National Intelligence Council.
Ciaramella has been tied to many members of the Obama administration, including a close relationship with Joe Biden. Many Republicans have been hesitant to say Ciaramella’s name, as it has not been confirmed that he is the whistleblower, but believe the whistleblower should testify in the impeachment process.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, however, broke from them and said Ciaramella’s name on Wednesday, adding that he believes Ciaramella should be brought in to testify as part of the impeachment investigation even if he is not the whistleblower.
