Rep. Mo Brooks characterized the whistleblower whose complaint Democrats are using as the crux of their impeachment proceedings against President Trump as “a spy” for the party.
“It becomes a real problem when you have people like the whistleblower, who is, in fact, a spy in my judgment,” the Alabama Republican said Monday. “And he was a spy on behalf of the Democratic Party, Joe Biden, and who knows whom else.”
The report from the alleged whistleblower, who has been named in multiple reports as career CIA analyst Eric Ciaramella, launched a formal impeachment investigation into Trump from House Democrats. Reports identifying the whistleblower have not been confirmed, however.
The whistleblower alleged that Trump improperly asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate corruption in his country and allegations of unethical business dealings by Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.
Ciaramella, 33, was Ukraine director on the National Security Council during the end of the Obama administration and remained there during the early months of the Trump administration when he was briefly acting senior director for European and Russian affairs. He is now a deputy national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia on the National Intelligence Council, reporting to the director of national intelligence.
Additionally, Ciaramella was then-Vice President Biden’s guest at an October 2016 State Department event, the Washington Examiner reported.
Trump has described his call with Zelensky as “perfect” and discredited the whistleblower as “a partisan person.” He has slammed some top U.S. diplomats to Ukraine who have testified in the impeachment process as “Never Trumpers” who “know nothing.”
Leading Republicans on Capitol Hill have spent recent weeks defending Trump and decrying a “sham impeachment process.” The president’s most ardent supporters have used the whistleblower saga and Ukraine controversy as more fodder for an often-cited theory of a “deep state” working to undermine Trump within his own administration.
“I suspect he went into the White House knowing he was going to spy, and he was going to try to undermine the president of the United States as best he could,” Brooks said. “Now when you have someone of that nature, that is a real problem.”
