Whistleblower protection laws exist to allow government officials to point out problematic issues within their departments in an effort to root out wrongdoing or mispractices, while also allowing those same people to remain anonymous, ensuring their safety from retributive acts by higher-ups.
President Donald Trump didn’t seem to care about those protections, or at the very least, was unaware of what he was doing when, on Thursday evening, he tweeted out an article that allegedly named the individual many believe to be the Ukraine scandal whistleblower.
HillReporter.com will not publish the individual’s name, nor provide a direct link to the article in question, to continue to protect what little semblance of privacy exists for the whistleblower. This policy may change as time goes on, if the name becomes commonly known in media in the future, or if the whistleblower themself determines their anonymity is no longer worth protecting.
Trump retweeted an account with the handle @TrumpWarRoom, an official re-election campaign account for the president. “It’s pretty simple,” the account wrote. “The CIA ‘whistleblower’ is not a real whistleblower!”
The profile then provided a link to a news publication that detailed, within the first paragraph and the title itself, the alleged name of the whistleblower. The article also suggested that there was a connection between House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Adam Schiff and the whistleblower, through an individual who worked as an aide to the National Security Council.
Given his escalating rage and erratic behavior, this was probably inevitable, but please don’t let that distract from the fact that this is truly deplorable and should deeply concern every American.https://t.co/HZ3wdPb2Bk
— Kaz Weida (@kazweida) December 27, 2019
Trump has reportedly discussed over the past several weeks with individuals he trusts possibly disclosing the whistleblower’s name in tweets or other public statements. Some sources who spoke with The Daily Beast said they were surprised he hadn’t already done so.
Trump’s actions on Thursday are not a direct means of him releasing the name, but are still troubling nevertheless.
Several individuals told Trump not to disclose the name of the person the news publication has named as the whistleblower, including White House adviser and daughter Ivanka Trump, White House counsel Pat Cipollone, and Fox News personality Sean Hannity.