Whistleblowing

Lawyer claims whistleblower is 'in harm’s way' from Trump

The intelligence official who raised concerns about President Trump's July phone call with the president of Ukraine is worried about reprisal from the Trump administration and its supporters.

A letter from the legal team for the unnamed whistleblower, whose complaint helped to spur an impeachment inquiry by House Democrats, indicates an urgent concern for this person's safety.

Andrew Bakaj, the lead attorney for the whistleblower, wrote to acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maquire on Saturday regarding safety concerns, noting that the events of the past week "have heightened our concerns that our client's identity will be disclosed publicly and that, as a result, our client will be put in harm's way."

Bakaj began by thanking Maguire for saying in testimony last week that the whistleblower "did the right thing." Maguire's initial refusal to hand over complaint to the House and Senate intelligence committees, in defiance of the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act, led to a standoff with Congress. Maguire said he was only acting in accordance with the determination of the Justice Department, which deemed the complaint to be outside the jurisdiction of the statute because it involved someone outside the U.S. Intelligence Community.

Cited in the letter is Trump's remarks on Thursday to a group of staff from the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in which he alluded to punishment for spies.