U.S. Senate may demand testimony from Trump-impeachment 'whistleblower'

Ukraine specialist Eric Ciaramella poses for a photo with former President Barack Obama at the White House. (Washington Examiner screenshot of photo published on the website for a Ciaramella friend's 2018 wedding.)

The Democrats' agenda to impeach President Trump, which failed badly, has been developing since before he was inaugurated.

But the trigger point was a complaint filed by a "whistleblower" whose hearsay claims about a telephone call from the White House to Ukraine's president alleged something was wrong.

That "whistleblower" has been identified in multiple reports as CIA staff member Eric Ciaramella.

But nowhere has he been questioned about his claims.

And that soon may be changing.

The Hill is reporting that Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., chief of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is open to demanding the whistleblower answer questions.

"I think you can rest assured that I'm prepared to do whatever we have to to interview the whistleblower," Burr told The Hill.

The fight is likely to be bitter, as Democrats who capitalized on the claims attributed to Ciaramella, first said he would testify, then abruptly changed plans and refused to allow that to happen.

His possible testimony comes as "the Senate Intelligence Committee is quietly shifting its attention back to its investigation into the complaint process after hitting pause on the inquiry as the impeachment effort consumed Washington," the report said.

That investigation, at least in part, would focus on the alleged wrongdoing by those who orchestrated the impeachment campaign against the president.

While a timeline for the panel's investigative work hasn't been defined yet, Burr said any interview should happen "sooner rather than later."

Under the federal whistleblower procedures, which were changed to allow the hearsay claims against the president to be considered, he or she is protected against retaliation at work, but there isn't a prohibition on releasing his or her identity.

The top Democrat on the panel, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., confirmed, "Chairman Burr and I are working on how we’re going to go through our proceedings. I'm really proud of the fact that we've managed for three and a half years to continue to put out broad, bipartisan reports."

There have been other demands, however, for the whistleblower's testimony.

"Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., recently said, "The Senate Intel Committee under Richard Burr has told us that we will call the whistleblower," the Hill said.

The hearsay complaint was about President Trump's call last July with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The hearsay alleged Trump sought Ukraine's help in the 2020 election by announcing an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden.

Biden put himself in the cross-hairs of attention when his son, Hunter, took millions of dollars to be on the board of a gas company – an industry in which he had no experience.

Joe Biden, then vice president and in charge of Ukraine policy for Barack Obama, then appeared on video to boast how he'd threatened Ukraine with the loss of American aid – a quid pro quo – unless officials there fired a prosecutor looking into alleged corruption at the gas company – Burisma.

Just days ago Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., dropped a bombshell on the Senate floor, reading the name of the "anti-Trump CIA operative" believed to be the "whistleblower" who filed the complaint that triggered impeachment, Eric Ciaramella.

During his remarks in the Senate impeachment trial, Paul read the question he submitted that was rejected by Chief Justice John Roberts. Ciaramella's name is in the question, but Paul didn't say he was the whistleblower.

In any case, Paul and other colleagues have argued the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act of 1998 requires only that the inspector general not disclose the whistleblower's name. It does not stop a member of Congress, the president or anyone else from identifying a whistleblower.

Paul's question was: "Are you aware that House intelligence committee staffer Shawn Misko had a close relationship with Eric Ciaramella while at the National Security Council together, and are you aware and how do you respond to reports that Ciaramella and Misko may have worked together to plot impeaching the President before there were formal house impeachment proceedings?"