The lawyers representing the whistleblower at the heart of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry on Wednesday hit back at President Donald Trump and his allies’ attacks accusing the whistleblower of having a political bias.
The lawyers, Andrew Bakaj and Mark Zaid, released a statement addressing an Axios report alleging that Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson had told lawmakers the whistleblower had “some type of professional relationship” with a 2020 Democratic candidate, along with Atkinson’s assessment that “some indicia of an arguable political bias” from the whistleblower (whose complaint Atkinson ultimately deemed to be credible).
Bakaj and Zaid said their client has “never worked for or advised a political candidate, campaign, or party” and has worked with elected officials (not candidates) on both sides of the aisle.
They also said that the whistleblower had “voluntarily provided” his or her career information to Atkinson “order to facilitate an assessment of the credibility of the complaint.”
“To date, virtually every substantive allegation has been confirmed by other sources,” Bakaj and Zaid wrote. “For that reason the identity of the whistleblower is irrelevant.”
Read the statement below:
