President Donald Trump’s obsession with the whistleblower’s identity is intensifying, as he prodded White House reporters to investigate and release the person’s identity Sunday.
“As you know, certain of the media released information about a man that they said was the whistleblower; I don’t know if that’s true or not,” he said. “But what they said is he’s an Obama person. It was involved with Brennan, Susan Rice, which means Obama.”
“If he’s the whistleblower, he has no credibility because he’s a Brennan guy, he’s a Susan Rice guy, he’s an Obama guy, and he hates Trump, and he’s a radical,” he continued. “Now, maybe it’s not him. But if it’s him, you guys ought to release the information.”
“Now, I don’t know if it’s true or not, but that was reported by some of the media, so you’ll have to find out,” he concluded. “CNN knows who it is, but you don’t want to report it…and you know, you’d be doing the public a service if you did.”
Trump (and thus Republicans) have sustained a burning interest in the whistleblower’s identity despite his or her growing irrelevance to the impeachment inquiry. Democrats, initially hellbent on getting the whistleblower’s testimony, now shrug at the prospect, citing the wealth of evidence they’ve gotten from other witnesses who don’t have to worry so much about protecting their identities.
Nevertheless, over the weekend, the whistleblower’s lawyer offered up the opportunity for Republicans to submit written questions, which his client would answer under oath.
The compromise was not enough for the President:
The Whistleblower gave false information & dealt with corrupt politician Schiff. He must be brought forward to testify. Written answers not acceptable! Where is the 2nd Whistleblower? He disappeared after I released the transcript. Does he even exist? Where is the informant? Con!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2019
