‘He’s not Voldemort. And he’s not a bona fide whistleblower…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) The newest member of Congress became the first member to utter publicly the name of presumed CIA ‘whistleblower’ Eric Ciaramella, whose complaint about President Donald Trump’s July phone call with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy triggered House Democrats’ latest impeachment effort.
Rep. Dan Bishop, R-NC, who won a special election in September to fill North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District, mocked those who insisted Ciaramella’s widely circulated name was verboten, likening him to the Harry Potter antagonist “who must not be named.”
100%. I refuse to cower before the authoritarian intimidation campaign.
He’s not Voldemort. And he’s not a bona fide whistleblower. Even if he were, he wouldn’t be entitled to secrecy.
Eric Ciamarella is a deep state conspirator. He needs to testify now. https://t.co/JOxhEOOJiA
— Dan Bishop (@jdanbishop) November 12, 2019
While Bishop has not officially aligned himself with the House Freedom Caucus, comprising some of Trump’s staunchest congressional allies, he was an outspoken supporter of Trump’s on the campaign trail and, in turn, received the president’s endorsement.
Bishop’s win over challenger Dan McCready, who had the benefit of a two year campaign and ample outside funding from mega-donors on the Left, disrupted Democrats’ hopes of crafting a narrative that suburban voters were turning against Trump en masse.
However, the new incumbent has already begun his re-election campaign for next year as members of the House serve only a two-year term.
Facebook and Youtube are among those who have refused to name the so-called whistleblower—citing, without evidence, the potential for harm.
Although Facebook went so far as to scrub all references to Ciaramella, Twitter refused to do so, saying under its policy, information that was publicly available elsewhere was permitted.
Facebook has left open the possibility of reversing its policy should it become widely used among public officials.
Ciaramella’s name has been something of an “open secret” floating in DC inner-sanctums and on conservative investigative blogs for weeks.
The New York Times initially broke the story that the anonymous informant was a CIA agent, but the left-wing paper, which is reliant upon many anonymous deep-state leakers of its own, was criticized in other liberal media outlets.
Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son and a campaign surrogate, caught flak in the media last week for retweeting a post that named Ciaramella, even though his name already had been featured by then on sites including the Drudge Report, which boasts millions of unique visitors.
Some have falsely claimed that unmasking his identity could lead to legal repercussions—including Ciaramella’s activist lawyers, who sent a cease-and-desist letter to the White House recently.
However, Breitbart noted that these claims were misinformation, with far-left network CNN even acknowledging that the law only prohibited the inspector general who received the complaint from revealing his name.
Former presidential hopeful Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., tweeted last week that he intended to propose legislation that would result in jail time for naming a whistleblower.
In the future, you will go to jail if you out a whistleblower. Legislation coming.
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) November 7, 2019
However, Democrats’ politicization and abuse of the anti-corruption safeguard in their current impeachment probe, much like their appropriation of intelligence agencies in the previous Russia collusion hoax, will likely result in greater skepticism should they seek further protections.
Much has been made of Ciaramella’s partisan ties to key players in both the Russia hoax and the current Ukraine conspiracy. Among those he allegedly maintained close ties with were former Vice President Joe Biden, whose own Ukraine misconduct is at the heart of the scandal; Alexandra Chalupa, a Ukrainian activist who worked with the country’s embassy on an anti-Trump smear campaign during the 2016 race; and Victoria Nuland, a State Department official who also communicated directly with British spy Christopher Steele about his infamous dossier.
Bishop and his House GOP colleagues already have identified the (unnamed) whistleblower on the list of witnesses they intend to call, along with other figures like Biden’s son Hunter.
The younger Biden on the payroll of a Ukrainian company under investigation for corruption until his father coerced officials to fire the prosecutor by threatening to withdraw a billion-dollar loan.
However, Democrats’ recent resolution formalizing the impeachment probe gave sole discretion over the witness list to House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who is unlikely to allow any testimony that would result in negative optics for the Left.
Schiff was discovered to have lied when claiming that he had no contact with Ciaramella prior to the filing of the whistleblower complaint. Republicans, as a result, have floated the possibility of calling him as a fact witness for his role in orchestrating the entire partisan operation.
Should Democrats vote—as expected—to impeach Trump, Senate Republicans will have their own opportunity to set the terms of a trial on whether to remove Trump from office.