PAA second whistleblower has reportedly come forward in the impeachment case against US President Donald Trump.
According to Mark Zaid, the attorney representing the first whistleblower, he is now representing a second whistleblower who has already spoken with the Inspector General.
Zaid told ABC News the second individual is also an ‘intelligence official’, and has first-hand knowledge of the allegations against Trump that were outlined in the original complaint.
You can see more about the second whistleblower here:
While Trump has called the allegations of the first whistleblower ‘totally inaccurate’, the existence of a second could very well undermine his insistence he did nothing wrong.
The original complaint claimed Trump pushed Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, to investigate his 2020 presidential rival Joe Biden, as well as Biden’s son Hunter. They then suggested White House officials then tried to ‘lock down’ all records of the phone call between the two leaders, ABC News reports.
In the complaint, the whistleblower wrote: ‘This set of actions underscored to me that White House officials understood the gravity of what had transpired in the call.’
NEWS UPDATE: I can confirm this report of a second #whistleblower being represented by our legal team. They also made a protected disclosure under the law and cannot be retaliated against. This WBer has first hand knowledge. https://t.co/zYkUYgJ0mE
— Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) October 6, 2019
According to attorney Mark Zaid, both whistleblowers have full protection of the law intended to protect them from being fired in retaliation. Though Zaid has said the second individual has spoken with the Inspector General – the internal watchdog office created to handle issues such as this – the person has not yet spoken to the congressional committees carrying out the impeachment inquiry.
In a tweet, Zaid and his co-counsel said they are now representing ‘multiple whistleblowers’, with the second individual possessing ‘first-hand knowledge’ of the claims.
According to the first whistleblower, more than six US officials also have information relevant to the impeachment inquiry, which suggests the search could widen further.
PATrump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, tweeted today, October 6, saying he was not surprised there was another ‘secret source’ with information against Trump, and said the claims were politically motivated, while the ‘swamp media’ will ‘fail to point out it means nothing’.
SURPRISE Democrat lawyer has other secret sources. Swamp Media will corruptly fail to point out it means nothing, now that conversation is public. No money, no quid pro quo unlike Biden helping son make millions from Ukrainian crook. ORCHESTRATED DEM CAMPAIGN LIKE KAVANAUGH
— Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) October 6, 2019
The White House insists it has been open with the inquiry, releasing a transcript of the conversation between Trump and Zelensky. However, investigators say this is only a partial transcript, and have consequently subpoenaed the State Department for more documents to be released, as BBC News reports.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.