Trump: Whistleblower must testify and be identified

President Trump early Monday knocked House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) over testimony from a whistleblower who helped spark the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, saying the person must testify and be identified.

{mosads}“Adam Schiff now doesn’t seem to want the Whistleblower to testify. NO! Must testify to explain why he got my Ukraine conversation sooo wrong, not even close. Did Schiff tell him to do that? We must determine the Whistleblower’s identity to determine WHY this was done to the USA,” Trump tweeted.

“Democrat’s game was foiled when we caught Schiff fraudulently making up my Ukraine conversation, when I released the exact conversation Transcript, and when Ukrainian President and the Foreign Minister said there was NO PRESSURE, very normal talk! A total Impeachment Scam!” he added.

Adam Schiff now doesn’t seem to want the Whistleblower to testify. NO! Must testify to explain why he got my Ukraine conversation sooo wrong, not even close. Did Schiff tell him to do that? We must determine the Whistleblower’s identity to determine WHY this was done to the USA..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2019

….Democrat’s game was foiled when we caught Schiff fraudulently making up my Ukraine conversation, when I released the exact conversation Transcript, and when Ukrainian President and the Foreign Minister said there was NO PRESSURE, very normal talk! A total Impeachment Scam!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2019

Schiff on Sunday said that testimony from the whistleblower who raised concerns about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine may no longer be necessary.

“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 told host Margaret Brennan during an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“Before the president started threatening the whistleblower … we were interested in having the whistleblower come forward. Our primary interest right now is making sure that that person is protected,” he added.

The whistleblower complained about a July 25 phone call in which Trump encouraged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.

Trump has accused the whistleblower of being biased against him and not having trustworthy information about the call.

The unidentified whistleblower’s lawyers have expressed concern for their client’s safety, given Trump’s comments.

The New York Times reported earlier this month that the whistleblower consulted the House Intelligence Committee before filing the complaint.

Trump has also attacked Schiff for exaggerating the contents of the president’s call with his Ukrainian counterpart, suggesting at one point that the California Democrat be arrested for treason.

Updated at 7:45 a.m.