Lawmakers will not get to interview whistleblower in person, attorneys say
Source: CNN
Washington (CNN)Prospects are growing increasingly grim that congressional investigators will have the opportunity to interview the anonymous whistleblower whose complaint sparked an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump over allegations he abused his office in his dealings with Ukraine.
The attorneys for the whistleblower who lodged a complaint with the intelligence community inspector general related to Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukraine's President wrote in a Washington Post op-ed Friday that there is no need for their client to testify in person, even behind closed doors.
Andrew Bakaj and Mark Zaid argue that their client's anonymity needs to be protected and say he has no additional information to offer about the call, writing: "Because our client has no additional information about the president's call, there is no justification for exposing their identity and all the risks that would follow." On Thursday, the lawyers had released an October 8 letter to leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee in which they say an in-person meeting with committee staff is a "non-starter," citing the need to protect the whistleblower's safety.
"Additionally, it is our firm position that we must treat Congress as a whole in a fair and impartial manner. Thus, given the events of just the past 24 hours, let alone the past three weeks -- to include threats from the President of the United States -- our client is now only willing to communicate with both Committees through written interrogatories," the letter states. "Frankly, based on White House action and other witness testimony, the vast majority of the substantive allegations set forth in our client's complaint have already been verified, thus minimizing the utility of any information our client could provide at this stage," it adds.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/25/politics/ukraine-whistleblower-interview-unlikely/index.html
The WaPo Editorial by the attorneys is here (in part) -
The public now knows more about the call with Ukraine than what was in the complaint.
By Andrew P. Bakaj and Mark S. Zaid
Oct. 25, 2019 at 12:08 p.m. EDT
Our client’s whistleblower complaint about President Trump’s efforts to solicit interference from Ukraine in the 2020 U.S. election was publicly released a month ago, and since then, speculation about the whistleblower’s identity has only increased. As each allegation in the complaint is substantiated by new witnesses, the president and his supporters remain fanatically devoted to bringing our client into the spotlight. But the reality is that the identity of the whistleblower is irrelevant.
In August, our client lawfully filed a detailed complaint that prompted the intelligence community inspector general to conduct a preliminary investigation. That inquiry, which involved multiple witnesses — all of whom are also lawfully protected as whistleblowers — led to a finding that the complaint was both “urgent” and “credible” and was legally required to be transmitted to Congress.
Over the past month, we have all learned more facts — from the White House’s summarized transcript of the July call with Ukraine’s president, from text messages provided to the House of Representatives by the former U.S. special representative for Ukraine, and from congressional testimony by people intimately involved with the circumstances the whistleblower first raised concern about. Much of what has been disclosed since the release of our client’s complaint actually exceeds the whistleblower’s knowledge of what transpired at the time the complaint was submitted. Because our client has no additional information about the president’s call, there is no justification for exposing their identity and all the risks that would follow.
However, even as the emerging facts have substantiated our client’s complaint, the president continues to repeatedly ask, “Where’s the whistleblower?” (He did this as recently as Thursday night.) He has even described our client as a “so-called whistleblower” and suggested that the whistleblower is passing on information from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Perhaps most concerning is that the president has equated whistleblowers with “spies,” even stating: “You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now.” In the “old days,” spies were executed. It is clear to all what the president was suggesting.
More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/we-represent-the-whistleblower-their-identity-is-no-longer-relevant/2019/10/25/d2ff25a2-f6a1-11e9-8cf0-4cc99f74d127_story.html
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