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:
Telling the truth about Donnie Dearest is political bias.
Lie in his favor and he will love you.
Let me guess, as part of the NSC team he gave advice to Democrats.
Facts? All that matters to GOP and Administration is Spin, baby, spin.
That’s why the Republicans were talking about “a connection to a Democratic presidential candidate.” S/He worked at the White House so likely interacted with people like Julian Castro or Joe Biden – who were elected officials, and happen to now be presidential candidates. The “connection” language is wholly misleading and not only not evidence of partisan bias, but clearly a smear – looking at you Axios.
I have a feeling that the lawyers for the whistleblowers are a bit more competent than Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow. Just a little bit.