‘Whistleblower to answer GOP questions’
WASHINGTON (AP) — The whistleblower who raised alarms about US President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and touched off the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry is willing to answer written questions submitted by House Republicans, the person’s lawyer says.
The offer made over the weekend to Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the intelligence committee, was aimed in part at fending off escalating attacks by Trump and his GOP allies who are demanding the whistleblower’s identity be revealed.
It would allow Republicans to ask questions of the whistleblower without having to go through the committee’s chairman, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
“Being a whistleblower is not a partisan job nor is impeachment an objective. That is not our role,” Mark Zaid, the whistleblower’s attorney, tweeted Sunday.
“We will ensure timely answers,” he said.
Zaid said the whistleblower would answer questions directly from Republican members “in writing, under oath & penalty of perjury.” Only queries seeking the person’s identity won’t be answered, he said.
Nunes’ office did not have immediate comment.
The surprise proposal comes as Trump stepped up attacks on the whistleblower as lacking credibility, tweeting Sunday that the person “must come forward.”
The whistleblower raised concerns about Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in which he pressed Zelenskiy to investigate Trump’s political rivals.
The whistleblower’s secondhand account of the call has been providing a road map for House Democrats investigating whether the president and others in his orbit pressured Ukraine to probe political opponents, including former Vice President Joe Biden.
Democrats are heading into a crucial phase of their impeachment inquiry as they aim to move toward public impeachment hearings later this month.
In the coming week, they have called in 11 witnesses, including Energy Secretary Rick Perry and former national security adviser John Bolton for closed-door interviews. It’s unclear whether any of them will come to Capitol Hill.
“Reveal the Whistleblower and end the Impeachment Hoax!” Trump tweeted Sunday. Trump later pushed the news media to divulge the whistleblower’s identity, asserting that the person’s accounting of events is incorrect.
The whistleblower’s complaint has been corroborated by people with firsthand knowledge of the events who have appeared on Capitol Hill.
“They know who it is. You know who it is. You just don’t want to report it,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “And you know you’d be doing the public a service if you did.”