Politics Jordan: Republicans Will Subpoena Whistleblower for Public Hearing

Ranking member of the House Oversight Committee Jim Jordan announced Thursday that Republicans plan to subpoena the whistleblower who filed a complaint concerning President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.

© REUTERS/Joshua Roberts Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbour, Maryland, on February 23, 2018.

House Democrats, who control the majority on the committees conducting the resulting impeachment probe, are expected to shut down the subpoena request as they have already rejected the idea of the whistleblower testifying in public, citing concern for the anonymous member of the intelligence community’s safety.

Whistleblower now willing to take Republican questions, lawyer abruptly announces

Responding to a torrent of complaints from Republicans that the impeachment inquiry against President Trump is secretive and one-sided, a lawyer for the anonymous whistleblower who raised alarms about the presidents' dealings with Ukraine said Sunday his client is willing to answer written questions submitted by House Republicans. "Obviously, per House rules GOP is beholden to DEMs," whistleblower attorney Mark Zaid wrote on Twitter. "We, however, are not." require(["medianetNativeAdOnArticle"], function (medianetNativeAdOnArticle) { medianetNativeAdOnArticle.

The whistleblower complaint expressed concerns about Trump’s July 25th phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump asked Zelensky to investigate 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son’s connections to a Ukrainian gas company. Much-needed U.S. military aid to Ukraine was being held up at the time, prompting speculation of a quid pro quo.

The Trump administration and lawmakers defending the president have made accusations of political bias one of their main defenses against the allegations, arguing that the whistleblower is partisan and not entitled to anonymity.

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Trump’s allies turned to online campaign in quest to unmask Ukraine whistleblower

The weeks-long process of pushing a CIA officer’s name to broad public attention shows how Trump allies have been able to marshal an army of online supporters.Most news organizations, including The Washington Post, have withheld the name of the whistleblower, whose complaint about Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been largely confirmed by diplomats and others with firsthand knowledge as well as by a reconstructed transcript released by the White House. The whistleblower’s name has been kept confidential by U.S. officials, in line with federal law designed to prevent retaliation.

The intelligence community inspector general, which examined the complaint, found that the whistleblower exhibited “arguable political bias” but said the allegations included in the complaint were nevertheless worthy of investigation, according to a Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel opinion. The whistleblower also reportedly had a prior professional relationship with Biden when he was vice president.

The whistleblower was originally scheduled to testify to the House Intelligence Committee in a closed-door hearing, but Democrats have said since then that such testimony would be redundant since other impeachment witnesses have corroborated the claims in the complaint.

The subpoena from Republicans comes as Democrats continue to move the inquiry into a more public phase, releasing transcripts on Wednesday from the House’s private hearings with U.S. diplomats who were close to the president’s dealings with Ukraine.