11/02/2023

The president provided no evidence that reporters know the identity of the whistleblower.

President Donald Trump is urging the media to expose the identity of a whistleblower who reported his now-infamous July 25 phone call with the Ukrainian president, which has become the cornerstone of House Democrats impeachment inquiry.
I dont know why the media is not on it because the whistleblower gave a very inaccurate report about my phone call, Trump told reporters outside the White House on Sunday.
The president then claimed, without evidence, that the press is already aware of the anonymous individuals identity.
They know who it is, he said. You know who it is. You just dont want to report it. CNN knows who it is, but you dont want to report it. You know, youd be doing the public a service if you did.
Trump just demanded that the media out the Ukraine whistleblower. pic.twitter.com/BYcE0zCtF5
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) November 3, 2019
Trump has repeatedly demanded that the whistleblower a member of the intelligence community be revealed for reporting the phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to a summary of the conversation, Trump pressed Zelensky for help with a probe of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son based on unfounded corruption allegations. Andrew Bakaj, one of the whistleblowers attorneys, has argued that his client is entitled to remain anonymous.
But that hasnt stopped Trump from continuing to ask for the whistleblowers name. On Sunday, he claimed that the whistleblower should be revealed because the whistleblower gave [a] false story, also questioning the whereabouts of a second whistleblower whose identity remains unknown.
The White Houses own account of the Trump-Zelensky conversation does not contradict the whistleblowers story. 
Trump followed up his remarks with a tweet, claiming that the media is working hard to hide information on the whistleblowers identity from the public.
The Fake News Media is working hard so that information about the Whistleblowers identity, which may be very bad for them and their Democrat partners, never reaches the Public.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2019
Last week, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Councils top Ukraine expert, testified before House impeachment investigators about Trumps call, according to Vindmans prepared statement obtained by HuffPost.
In his remarks, Vindman said he is not the whistleblower who filed a complaint about Trumps call, but that he reported the conversation out of concern that it could undermine U.S. national security.