Republican Lawmaker Breaks With Party, Demands Ukraine Whistleblower’s Identity Be Protected
As President Donald Trump and a number of his Republican allies in both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate demand that the Ukraine whistleblower’s identity be revealed, Texas Republican Rep. Will Hurd said that whistleblowers should be protected as according to law.
According to Politico, Hurd, a former member of the CIA and soon-to-retire Republican lawmaker, told Fox News’ Chris Wallace on Sunday that he believes it’s important to keep whistleblowers safeguarded to ensure that future whistleblowers are comfortable coming forward when need be.
“I think we should be protecting the identity of the whistleblower. I’ve said that from the very beginning because how we treat this whistleblower will impact whistleblowers in the future,” Hurd said.
“Having this whistleblower law on the books is important; it’s important checks and balance are not only in the intelligence committee, but in our government,” he added.
However, Hurd joined his Republican colleagues in requesting to hear from former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, in an effort to find out how he ended up on the board of a Ukrainian energy company without any relevant experience in either the country or that particular business sector.
Republicans have argued from the outset of the announcement of the impeachment inquiry that Hunter Biden was only hired for the lucrative board position because his father was vice president at the time, though Joe Biden has repeatedly denied such claims.
While Hunter Biden was one of the top figures on a list of people who Republican lawmakers requested testimony from, House Intelligence Committee Chairmain Adam Schiff rejected the GOP request. Schiff said that the next phase of hearings “will not serve, however, as a vehicle to undertake the same sham investigations into the Bidens or 2016 that the President pressed Ukraine to conduct for his personal political benefit.”
The president had a much different take than Hurd on the whistleblower, railing against the anonymous intelligence community official from the start and demanding he or she be named so that he would be afforded the opportunity to face his accuser.
House Intel member Rep Will Hurd (R-TX) joined FOX News Sunday exclusively to react to President Trump's recent comments on the whistleblower. Rep Hurd says: "I think we should be protecting the identity of the whistleblower" #FNS #FoxNews #Politics pic.twitter.com/g8YMRPxjtz
— Fox News Sunday (@FoxNewsSunday) November 10, 2019
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Trump, who has previously accused the whistleblower of “treason,” said on Friday that the person should be sued, “maybe for treason.” He also insisted that the Democrat-led impeachment inquiry has only served to make him “stronger than ever” and suggested to reporters that the investigation was solidifying his already strong supporter base.
His claim may be at least partially true, as recent polls have indicated that Republican voter support for impeachment hovers around the 10 percent mark. In contrast, a vast majority of Democratic voters support his impeachment and removal from office.
