A guest on Fox News named the alleged Ukraine whistleblower as Eric Ciaramella days after the network told its hosts not to name the individual.
Lars Larson referred to the whistleblower by name in a conversation only tangentially related to impeachment on Outnumbered Overtime on Thursday.
“The fact is, Nancy Pelosi, six weeks ago, was telling us, ‘I have what it takes to impeach the president,’ and now we’re saying, ‘We’re investigating to find out if there’s anything there that justifies impeachment.’ And the more we learn about it, about Eric Ciaramella and his attorney who said, ‘The coup begins now,’ and the fact that we’re hearing things second- and third- and fourth-hand,” Larson explained.
Earlier this week, a company executive sent an email directive to its staff telling hosts not to name the whistleblower. It also directed production staffers to “not fulfill any video or graphic requests” in connection to the whistleblower’s identity.
Ciaramella, 33, a career CIA analyst, was Ukraine director on the National Security Council during the end of the Obama administration and remained there during the early months of the Trump administration when he was briefly acting senior director for European and Russian affairs.
The Washington Examiner reported on Oct. 7 that Ciaramella is a deputy national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia on the National Intelligence Council, reporting to the director of national intelligence.
A Fox News representative told the Washington Examiner, “Fox News has not confirmed or independently verified the name of the whistleblower” and pointed out that the person who named the whistleblower was a guest on the network and not an employee.
