The whistleblower who said U.S. President Donald Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden is a CIA officer and at one point was assigned to work at the White House, two sources familiar with the probe into his complaint confirmed on Thursday. The New York Times first identified the whistleblower as a CIA officer, which Reuters has independently confirmed. Mark Zaid, a Washington lawyer who represents the whistleblower at the center of an impeachment inquiry into Trump, declined to confirm the identity or occupation of his client. Editorial | Trump & impeachment: On foreign meddling in U.S. polls“Publishing details about the whistleblower will only lead to identification of someone, whether our client or the wrong person, as the whistleblower. There should be a way of stopping it, maybe legally through the courts,” Mr. Trump told reporters.

Source: The Hindu September 27, 2019 03:51 UTC