November 13, 2019

The Whistleblower’s Identity Doesn’t Really Matter Anymore

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/whistleblower-identity-irrelevant-910496/
"The whistleblower’s complaint may have kicked off of the impeachment inquiry, but it is no longer essential to it. Nearly all of its claims have been independently corroborated, as NPR recently pointed out in an exhaustively annotated version of the complaint. Here are a few examples: ALLEGATION: This is the thesis of the whistleblower’s complaint: “In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple U.S. Government officials that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election. This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President’s main domestic political rivals. The President’s personal lawyer, Mr. Rudolph Giuliani, is a central figure in this effort. Attorney General Barr appears to be involved as well.” CORROBORATION: Every point of this paragraph was confirmed explicitly in the partial transcript of Trump’s July 25th call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, not to mention by multiple witnesses with first-hand knowledge. The complaint goes on to detail what the whistleblower was told transpired in the call. All of these points were confirmed by the partial readout released by the White House, as well. ALLEGATION: That the White House “intervened to “lock down” all records of the phone call” and that White House officials were told by White House lawyers to move the transcript of the call to a highly classified server typically reserved for material pertaining to national security. CORROBORATION: Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman testified that the transcript of the call “into a different type, a different, more secure system” after he relayed his concerns about the call to National Security Council lawyers."