Republicans hell-bent on exposing Trump whistleblower | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Wednesday
May 21, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2025
Republicans hell-bent on exposing Trump whistleblower

Politics

Reuters
09 November, 2019, 11:35 am
Last modified: 09 November, 2019, 01:29 pm

Related News

  • US terminates $60 million in Harvard grants over alleged antisemitism
  • Trump says Russia, Ukraine agree to immediate ceasefire talks, Kremlin offers no timeframe
  • Trump to speak to Putin on end to war in Ukraine as Europeans demand ceasefire
  • Trump to speak to Russian, Ukrainian leaders on Monday after talks in Turkey
  • Bypassed by Trump, Israel dismayed but silent

Republicans hell-bent on exposing Trump whistleblower

Lawyers for the whistleblower have refused to disclose their client's identity and have expressed fears for the person's safety

Reuters
09 November, 2019, 11:35 am
Last modified: 09 November, 2019, 01:29 pm
US President Donald Trump speaks to the media on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, US, before his departure to New York, November 2, 2019/ Reuters
US President Donald Trump speaks to the media on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, US, before his departure to New York, November 2, 2019/ Reuters

An aggressive push by President Donald Trump's Republican allies to unmask an anonymous whistleblower who ignited the impeachment inquiry could help shore up voter support for Trump, as Congress enters a critical new phase of televised hearings, party officials and strategists say.

The whistleblower, a US intelligence official who complained about Trump's July 25 telephone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has in recent days increasingly become a target of noisy attacks by Trump, his allies in Congress and the conservative media, all of whom have pushed for the whistleblower to be named.

Trump has suggested the whistleblower committed treason.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Lawyers for the whistleblower have refused to disclose their client's identity and have expressed fears for the person's safety. They say Trump is violating federal laws.

"Let me be clear: should any harm befall any suspected named whistleblower or their family, the blame will rest squarely with your client," whistleblower lawyer Andrew Bakaj said in a November 7 cease-and-desist letter to White House Counsel Pat Cipollone.

The whistleblower was initially considered a star witness of the impeachment inquiry. But the Democratic-led investigation, now in its sixth week, has heard from a parade of current and former US officials who have largely corroborated the whistleblower's account of the call in which Trump pressed Zelenskiy to open an investigation into former US Vice President Joe Biden and his businessman son Hunter Biden.

Democratic lawmakers say they no longer need to hear from the whistleblower to make their case that Trump abused his office for personal political gain. The president has denied any wrongdoing and accused his opponents of a witch hunt.

As Democratic interest in the whistleblower has waned, the Republican push to unmask the person has ratcheted up, raising questions about what Republicans hope to gain.

Trump's allies want to try to counter potentially damaging testimony by US diplomats during next week's public hearings by presenting the whistleblower as a partisan figure who helped Democrats launch an impeachment inquiry that had long been considered, according to House of Representatives Republican aides and strategists.

"The Republican issue with the whistleblower is that there seems to be an inherently political motive behind what he said and did and presented," said a Republican Party official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"It fits in the larger narrative that this has been a partisan effort from the beginning," the official said.

A spokesman for House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy did not immediately respond to a Reuters query about the Republican focus on the whistleblower.

Conservative news articles purporting to identify the whistleblower have sought to link the person with Joe Biden and "deep state" conspirators within the Obama administration who some Republicans say were determined to undermine Trump's candidacy when he was running for office and later his presidency.

"They're trying to define the impeachment hearings as political before they begin. It helps fire up the base and tries to tint the testimony before it actually takes place," said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean.

Republican Senator Rand Paul told reporters this week that he would view the whistleblower as "a material witness" who could support Trump's allegations of corruption against Biden, should the House impeachment drive lead to a Senate trial. "They absolutely need to testify," Paul said. "He could well have firsthand knowledge."

Deflection

Aides and strategists say the aim of the push to unmask the whistleblower is to deflect voter attention away from impeachment testimony and cast doubt on the Democratic-led proceedings.

"Republican voters want to stick with their tribe and defend the president, and they need something to go on. This gives strong Trump voters something to say when the actual request to Ukraine is indefensible," said Republican strategist Rory Cooper, who was a top aide to former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

The Republican Party official said internal polling shows that large numbers of voters view the impeachment investigation as politically motivated.

Representative Jim Jordan, a staunch Trump ally and leading Republican opponent of the inquiry, said on Thursday that Republicans intend to subpoena the whistleblower to testify in public. House Democrats have accused Republican lawmakers of using closed-door testimony to try to learn the whistleblower's identity from witnesses.

The president's son, Donald Trump Jr, posted on Twitter this week a link to an article containing the purported name of the whistleblower, while Senator Paul urged US media to report on the whistleblower's identity and said he could announce it himself.

Trump's daughter Ivanka, however, said the whistleblower is not particularly relevant.

"The whistleblower shouldn't be a substantive part of the conversation," she told the Associated Press on Friday, adding that the person "did not have firsthand information."

World+Biz / Top News

impeachment inquiry / Donald Trump

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Govt to cut property registration tax by 40%, align deed value with market rates
    Govt to cut property registration tax by 40%, align deed value with market rates
  • British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a reception, following the UK-EU summit, in London, Britain, May 19, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/Pool/File Photo
    UK suspends trade talks with Israel, summons ambassador, issues sanctions over new Gaza offensive
  • A file photo of the NBR Bhaban in Agargaon, Dhaka
    NBR dissolution: Protesters say meeting with advisers not fruitful, announces sit-in programme tomorrow

MOST VIEWED

  • Lotto inaugurates new factory to nearly triple production capacity
    Lotto inaugurates new factory to nearly triple production capacity
  • Ikramul Hasan Shakil at the Base Camp of Mount Everest. Photo: Collected from Shakil's official Facebook page
    From sea to summit: Shakil walks from Cox's Bazar to conquer Everest
  • Illustration: Collected
    Unemployment rate hits historic high, rises to 4.63% as 27.4 lakh now jobless
  • Representational image
    Govt plans to scrap reduced tax benefits for textile sector
  • Saleh Uddin Ahmed. Sketch: TBS
    Large depositors in troubled banks to be offered shares, bonds: Salehuddin
  • The Chattogram Custom House building in Chattogram. File Photo: Collected
    Ctg custom house pen-down strike continues for 5th day

Related News

  • US terminates $60 million in Harvard grants over alleged antisemitism
  • Trump says Russia, Ukraine agree to immediate ceasefire talks, Kremlin offers no timeframe
  • Trump to speak to Putin on end to war in Ukraine as Europeans demand ceasefire
  • Trump to speak to Russian, Ukrainian leaders on Monday after talks in Turkey
  • Bypassed by Trump, Israel dismayed but silent

Features

Football presenter Gary Lineker walks outside his home, after resigning from the BBC after 25 years of presenting Match of the Day, in London, Britain. Photo: Reuters

Gary Lineker’s fallout once again exposes Western media’s selective moral compass on Palestine

6h | Features
Fired by US aid cuts, driven by courage: A female driver steering through uncertainty

Fired by US aid cuts, driven by courage: A female driver steering through uncertainty

13h | Features
Photo: TBS

How Shahbagh became the focal point of protests — and public suffering

1d | Panorama
PHOTO: Collected

Helmet Hunt: Top 5 half-face helmets that meet international safety standards

2d | Wheels

More Videos from TBS

Western world warns Israel over aid blockade and military operation

Western world warns Israel over aid blockade and military operation

6h | TBS World
Atrai dam breaks for the second time within 4 months

Atrai dam breaks for the second time within 4 months

6h | TBS Today
How is China the 'winner' of the India-Pakistan conflict?

How is China the 'winner' of the India-Pakistan conflict?

8h | Others
Why ADP implementation rate lowest in education and health sectors?

Why ADP implementation rate lowest in education and health sectors?

8h | Podcast
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net