House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) appeared on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos this morning and announced that an agreement has been reached for testimony before his committee from the whistleblower who revealed Donald Trump’s efforts to illegally enlist the Ukranian government in his attempts to slander one of his leading Democratic political opponents in the 2020 presidential election.
Representative Schiff was asked by Stephanopoulos about the progress being made in getting the as-yet-unidentified whistleblower to give their account of the circumstances that led them to file the official complaint — later deemed an “urgent” matter of national security concern by the intelligence community’s Inspector General.
Congressman Schiff’s reply indicated the complexity involved in setting up the whistleblower’s testimony without interference from Trump administration minders attempting to prevent him from speaking freely. The Intel Chairman explained that they were waiting for security clearances for the whistleblower’s lawyers as well as taking every precaution to shield their identity out of fear that he may be in danger of physical retaliation after being described as a traitor by President Trump.
The president earlier this week said that the whistleblower — who has followed every proper procedure to follow the letter of the law protecting government employees from retaliation after revealing the massive wrongdoing by Trump and his cohorts — should be treated as traitors and spies were in the past, implying that they deserve the death penalty for exposing his crimes.
“You can imagine the security concerns here,” Rep. Schiff explained.
The congressman went on to say that he expects the testimony to happen “very soon,” whenever acting Director of National Security Joseph Maguire can complete the attorney’s clearances, a process which Schiff promised to monitor to ensure timely progress rather than the type of obstruction typically seen by the Trump administration in congressional investigations.
You can watch a clip of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos in the video excerpt below.
NEW: Adam Schiff has reached agreement with whistleblower to come before House Intelligence Committee, he tells @ThisWeekABC, and says he expects to hear from the whistleblower "very soon." https://t.co/S0bTTE1vKj pic.twitter.com/e7uJSxxyT8
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 29, 2019
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