The CIA whistleblower whose complaint sparked the Democrats’ impeachment efforts has decided that he will take questions from Republican lawmakers after public outcry over the highly controversial process that Democrats instituted for conducting their impeachment inquiry severely threatened to undermine the entire process.
Whistleblower attorney Mark Zaid made the announcement on Sunday via Twitter, writing, “Our legal team offered GOP direct opportunity to ask written questions of #whistleblower. Recent GOP messaging, led by President Trump (incl this morning), has been to highlight original #WBer & demand disclosure of identity.”
“Despite long standing policy of [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] to protect #whistleblowers, especially anonymity (btw, this was consistent with my efforts w/GOP on #Benghazi), GOP has sought to expose our client’s identity which could jeopardize their safety, as well as that of their family,” Zaid continued. “We have directly engaged GOP as to the irrelevance of the whistleblower’s information and identity (including addressing any issue of bias), but with little effect in halting the attacks. Btw, countless OIG complaints are filed anonymously & full of hearsay. It’s common.”
“We offered HPSCI (& SSCI), both Majority & Minority, to have #whistleblower answer questions in writing, under oath & penalty of perjury. Obviously, per House rules GOP is beholden to DEMs,” Zaid continued. “We, however, are not. Being a whistleblower is not a partisan job nor is impeachment an objective. That is not our role.”
However, there is a potential problem with the offer: the whistleblower is only offering to submit answers in writing and has not offered to testify in front of Republicans. – READ MORE