Trump demand for whistleblower’s identity roils inquiry

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump and his Republican allies are dialing up pressure to unmask the Ukraine whistleblower in a breathtaking departure from how allegations of corruption and waste have been handled by both parties for years.
The push to identify the anonymous intelligence official risks deterring future whistle-blowers from coming forward — particularly in the House Democrats’ current impeachment inquiry — even as lawyers for the official are negotiating with House and Senate committees over an appearance for closed-door interviews.
The whistle-blower’s complaint is central to the House Democrats’ current impeachment inquiry, with the potential to lead to other witnesses with first-hand knowledge of Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
But the whistle-blower’s identity could also help Trump’s allies identify other officials in the White House who gave the person information about the telephone conversation and efforts to “lock down” the records of the call. Trump referred to the whistle-blower as a “spy” in a closed-door meeting and has said several times that he deserves to know the whistle-blower’s identity.
“Like every American, I deserve to meet my accuser,
especially when this accuser, the so-called ‘Whistle-blower,’ represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way,” he tweeted.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress, echoed the sentiment of other Republicans in a tweet: “It’s imperative we find out which officials supplied the whistle-blower with information to file a complaint.