SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony on S.1790, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2020, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on December 20, 2019. (Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump Retweets Article Outing Name of Alleged Ukraine Whistleblower
Legal experts have said outing a whistleblower is likely a federal crime.
Dec 26, 2019
President Donald Trump late Thursday retweeted an article that names the alleged whistleblower who came forward to sound the alarm about president's conduct toward Ukraine, which ultimately led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives.
The president retweeted a post by his 2020 reelection campaign's official "War Room" account, which linked to a Washington Examiner article that uses the alleged whistleblower's name in the headline.
"I believe tonight marks the first time president trump has retweeted a tweet featuring The Name before, and that tweet came from his campaign war room."
--Asawin Suebsaeng, The Daily Beast
"I believe tonight marks the first time president trump has retweeted a tweet featuring The Name before, and that tweet came from his campaign war room," said Daily Beast reporter Asawin Suebsaeng.
Unlike the Examiner and other right-wing publications, most news outlets have declined to publish the alleged whistleblower's name amid concerns for the person's safety.
Trump has suggested behind closed doors that the people who provided the whistleblower with information should be executed. The president has also publicly demanded to "meet" the whistleblower and claimed to know the person's identity.
"He hates Trump," the president said of the individual last month.
As The Daily Beast reported late Thursday:
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.
Multiple sources close to Trump had told The Daily Beast last month that they were genuinely shocked the president hadn't already rage-tweeted the name or blurted it out to the cameras, given his massive fury at the individual. On Thursday night, President Trump's restraint appeared to slip.
Legal experts have said that "outing" a whistleblower likely amounts to a violation of federal law.
"Despite mentions on several conservative websites and social media accounts, the identity of the whistleblower has not been confirmed or widely circulated," Eric Havian and Michael Ronickher, who have both represented whistleblowers, wrote in an op-ed earlier this month. "The most vocal Trump defenders in Congress have fallen into lockstep, excoriating Democrats for maintaining the whistleblower's anonymity while in almost every case carefully avoiding disclosure themselves."
"The Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act makes it unlawful to take any 'action constituting reprisal' against whistleblowers who follow the proper procedures to report national security concerns, as the whistleblower did here," wrote Havian and Ronickher. "The law is clear that 'outing' a whistleblower can indeed constitute retaliation and reprisal."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
President Donald Trump late Thursday retweeted an article that names the alleged whistleblower who came forward to sound the alarm about president's conduct toward Ukraine, which ultimately led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives.
The president retweeted a post by his 2020 reelection campaign's official "War Room" account, which linked to a Washington Examiner article that uses the alleged whistleblower's name in the headline.
"I believe tonight marks the first time president trump has retweeted a tweet featuring The Name before, and that tweet came from his campaign war room."
--Asawin Suebsaeng, The Daily Beast
"I believe tonight marks the first time president trump has retweeted a tweet featuring The Name before, and that tweet came from his campaign war room," said Daily Beast reporter Asawin Suebsaeng.
Unlike the Examiner and other right-wing publications, most news outlets have declined to publish the alleged whistleblower's name amid concerns for the person's safety.
Trump has suggested behind closed doors that the people who provided the whistleblower with information should be executed. The president has also publicly demanded to "meet" the whistleblower and claimed to know the person's identity.
"He hates Trump," the president said of the individual last month.
As The Daily Beast reported late Thursday:
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.
Multiple sources close to Trump had told The Daily Beast last month that they were genuinely shocked the president hadn't already rage-tweeted the name or blurted it out to the cameras, given his massive fury at the individual. On Thursday night, President Trump's restraint appeared to slip.
Legal experts have said that "outing" a whistleblower likely amounts to a violation of federal law.
"Despite mentions on several conservative websites and social media accounts, the identity of the whistleblower has not been confirmed or widely circulated," Eric Havian and Michael Ronickher, who have both represented whistleblowers, wrote in an op-ed earlier this month. "The most vocal Trump defenders in Congress have fallen into lockstep, excoriating Democrats for maintaining the whistleblower's anonymity while in almost every case carefully avoiding disclosure themselves."
"The Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act makes it unlawful to take any 'action constituting reprisal' against whistleblowers who follow the proper procedures to report national security concerns, as the whistleblower did here," wrote Havian and Ronickher. "The law is clear that 'outing' a whistleblower can indeed constitute retaliation and reprisal."
President Donald Trump late Thursday retweeted an article that names the alleged whistleblower who came forward to sound the alarm about president's conduct toward Ukraine, which ultimately led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives.
The president retweeted a post by his 2020 reelection campaign's official "War Room" account, which linked to a Washington Examiner article that uses the alleged whistleblower's name in the headline.
"I believe tonight marks the first time president trump has retweeted a tweet featuring The Name before, and that tweet came from his campaign war room."
--Asawin Suebsaeng, The Daily Beast
"I believe tonight marks the first time president trump has retweeted a tweet featuring The Name before, and that tweet came from his campaign war room," said Daily Beast reporter Asawin Suebsaeng.
Unlike the Examiner and other right-wing publications, most news outlets have declined to publish the alleged whistleblower's name amid concerns for the person's safety.
Trump has suggested behind closed doors that the people who provided the whistleblower with information should be executed. The president has also publicly demanded to "meet" the whistleblower and claimed to know the person's identity.
"He hates Trump," the president said of the individual last month.
As The Daily Beast reported late Thursday:
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.
Multiple sources close to Trump had told The Daily Beast last month that they were genuinely shocked the president hadn't already rage-tweeted the name or blurted it out to the cameras, given his massive fury at the individual. On Thursday night, President Trump's restraint appeared to slip.
Legal experts have said that "outing" a whistleblower likely amounts to a violation of federal law.
"Despite mentions on several conservative websites and social media accounts, the identity of the whistleblower has not been confirmed or widely circulated," Eric Havian and Michael Ronickher, who have both represented whistleblowers, wrote in an op-ed earlier this month. "The most vocal Trump defenders in Congress have fallen into lockstep, excoriating Democrats for maintaining the whistleblower's anonymity while in almost every case carefully avoiding disclosure themselves."
"The Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act makes it unlawful to take any 'action constituting reprisal' against whistleblowers who follow the proper procedures to report national security concerns, as the whistleblower did here," wrote Havian and Ronickher. "The law is clear that 'outing' a whistleblower can indeed constitute retaliation and reprisal."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.