THE PUBLIC IS ENTITLED TO KNOW THE IDENTITY OF THE WHISTLEBLOWER WHO IS TRYING TO BRING THE PRESIDENT DOWN

Don Trump Jr. defiant after naming whistleblower as Eric Ciaramella

by Mike Brest

Washington Examiner
November 6, 2019

Donald Trump Jr. named CIA officer Eric Ciaramella as the whistleblower who filed a complaint about President Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The president's eldest son, 41, sent out a link via Twitter to a Breitbart News story that named Ciaramella as the "alleged" whistleblower. Ciaramella, 33, was named in a RealClearInvestigations report last week. "Because of course he did!!! Alleged ‘Whistleblower’ Eric Ciaramella Worked Closely with Anti-Trump Dossier Hoaxer," Trump Jr. tweeted.

Trump Jr. defended his tweet after facing backlash. He tweeted, "The entire media is #Triggered that I (a private citizen) tweeted out a story naming the alleged whistleblower. Are they going to pretend that his name hasn’t been in the public domain for weeks now? Numerous people & news outlets including Real Clear Politics already ID’d him." Trump Jr.'s new book is entitled Triggered.

Trump has repeatedly called for the whistleblower's identity to be revealed. Sen. Rand Paul called for the media to "do their job" and name the whistleblower this week.

Trump Jr. later pushed back on the claim that his tweet was a part of an effort to out the whistleblower in conjunction with the White House. “The outrage on this is BS. And those pretending that I would coordinate with The White House to send out a Breitbart link haven’t been watching my feed for a long time," Trump Jr. told journalist Yashar Ali.

Andrew Bakaj and Mark Zaid, lawyers for the whistleblower, responded in a statement: "Identifying any suspected name for the whistleblower will place their family at risk of serious harm. We will not confirm or deny any name that is published or promoted by supporters of the President. Disclosure of any name undermines the integrity of the whistleblower system and will deter any future whistleblowers. We will note, however, that publication or promotion of a name shows the desperation to deflect from the substance of the whistleblower complaint. It will not relieve the President of the need to address the substantive allegation, all of which have been substantially proven to be true."

Ciaramella, a career CIA analyst, was Ukraine director on the National Security Council during the end of the Obama administration and remained there during the early months of the Trump administration when he was briefly acting senior director for European and Russian affairs.