Schiff blocks Vindman from 'revealing identity of whistleblower'

See Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., question Lt. Col Alexander Vindman:

House Republicans appeared to catch National Security Council official Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman Tuesday in a contradiction in his testimony regarding whether or not he knows the identity of the whistleblower who filed the complaint that prompted the Democrats' current impeachment inquiry.

Vindman previously testified in a closed-door session that he didn't know the whistleblower's identity.

But when House Intelligence Committee ranking member Rep. Devin Nunes, D-Calif., asked Vindman on Tuesday to name the agency of an intelligence official with whom he spoke about the July 25 phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, Vindman said he was barred by the chairman and his counsel from answering.

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"As you know the intelligence community has 17 different agencies, what agency was this individual from?" Nunes asked.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff interrupted.

"If I could interject here, we don't want to use these proceedings ... we need to protect the whistleblower," Schiff said.

"I want to make sure there's no effort to out the whistleblower through the use of these proceedings," the chairman said.

Nunes noted Vindman previously testified he didn't know the whistleblower's identity.

"Per the advice of my counsel," Vindman said. "I have been advised not to answer specific questions about members of the intelligence community."

Vindman eventually said, "What I can offer is that ... it was a properly cleared individual with a need to know."

Nunes then reminded Vindman that he was under subpoena and had the option of either answering the questions or pleading the Fifth Amendment.

Vindman's counsel interjected, saying Vindman was following the "rule of the chair."

"Counsel is correct," Schiff said, "the whistleblower has the statutory right to anonymity."

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, followed up, challenging Schiff's logic.

"Mr. Chairman, I don't see how this is outing the whistleblower. The witness has testified in his deposition that he doesn’t know who the whistleblower is. You have said, even though no one believes you, you have said that you don’t know who the whistleblower is. So, how is this outing the whistleblower to find out who this whistleblower is?"

Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., raised the issue in a tweet Tuesday.

“If Adam Schiff & LTC Vindman don’t know who the “whistleblower” is, how would they know that naming the one person LTC Vindman spoke to in the intelligence community would out the “whistleblower”?” Zeldin wrote.

If Adam Schiff & LTC Vindman don’t know who the “whistleblower” is, how would they know that naming the one person LTC Vindman spoke to in the intelligence community would out the “whistleblower”? 🤔

— Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) November 19, 2019

RealClearInvestigations has reported the whistleblower is 33-year-old CIA analyst and former National Security Council official Eric Ciaramella.

Vindman testified in his closed-door testimony: "I want the committee to know I am not the whistleblower who brought this issue to the CIA and the committee’s attention. I do not know who the whistleblower is, and I would not feel comfortable to speculate as to the identity of the whistleblower."

In an 11-page letter Monday to Nunes and Jordan, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, accused Vindman of illegally leaking contents of Trump's phone call with Zelensky.