Miloch
2019-12-27 05:15:02 UTC
On Thursday evening, Donald Trump pushed out on Twitter the name of the alleged
whistleblower whose complaint led to the presidents impeachment.
Trumps personal Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, retweeted a post by the
re-election campaigns official war room account that was aimed at the
whistleblowers attorney Mark Zaid. It's pretty simple. The CIA whistleblower
is not a real whistleblower! reads the tweet, which links to a Washington
Examiner item. That piece, published Dec. 3, includes the alleged
whistleblowers name in the headline. The Daily Beast is declining to publish
the name and has not independently verified the identity of the whistleblower.
As The Daily Beast reported last month, Trump had gossiped for weeks about this
alleged whistleblower with various friends, media figures, and senior
administration officials, and had asked some people if they thought it was a
good idea for him to publicly announce or tweet the name. Several people close
to the president, such as Ivanka Trump and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone,
had privately cautioned him against saying or posting the name in public,
arguing it would be counterproductive and unnecessary.
Even Fox News host Sean Hannity, who had also gossiped in recent months with
Trump about the alleged whistleblower, hadnt pushed the president hard on this.
Multiple sources close to Trump had told The Daily Beast last month that they
were genuinely shocked the president hadnt already rage-tweeted the name or
blurted it out to the cameras, given his massive fury at the individual. On
Thursday night, President Trumps restraint appeared to slip.
Zaid who has worked with The Daily Beast on Freedom of Information Act
requests and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for
comment on this story.
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