November 3, 2019

Republicans Keep Saying They Want to Question the Whistleblower. Now May Be Their Chance.

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On Sunday morning, the lawyer for the whistleblower whose complaint is at the center of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump said he has offered Republicans the chance to submit written questions directly to his client:

The lawyer, Mark Zaid, also blasted repeated GOP efforts to unmask the whistleblower’s identity: 

As CBS News reported Sunday:

Attorney Mark Zaid told CBS News he contacted Representative Devin Nunes, the committee’s ranking member, on Saturday to say his client is willing to answer Republicans’ questions under oath and penalty of perjury if lawmakers submitted written questions to the whistleblower’s legal team. The inspector general of the intelligence community, a Trump appointee, could verify the whistleblower’s identity in order to satisfy the committee’s minority members while protecting the individual’s anonymity.

…

Previously, the whistleblower had offered to answer questions under oath and in writing if submitted by the House Intelligence Committee as a whole. This new offer would be a direct channel of communication with the Republicans who are in the minority on that committee. Republican leadership has complained that the process is unfair and overly restrictive on their ability to question witnesses.

It’s still unclear if Republicans will take Zaid and the whistleblower up on their offer; Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the top Republican on the committee, did not respond to CBS’ request for a comment. Meanwhile, the Democrats have cooled on the possibility of having the whistleblower testify. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the House Intelligence Committee chair, said last month that despite Democrats’ initial interest in speaking to the whistleblower while safeguarding their identity, the party is less eager to do so since Trump and the Republicans started attacking the whistleblower’s anonymity and calling for them to be unmasked. “Given that we already have the call record, we don’t need the whistleblower, who wasn’t on the call, to tell us what took place during the call,” Schiff said last month. 

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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