CIA Whistleblower’s Attorney: ’60 Minutes’ Federal Protection Story Is Fake News

An attorney for the CIA whistleblower at the heart of the Trump-Biden-Ukraine scandal said Sunday that CBS‘ “60 Minutes” had “completely misinterpreted” a letter to acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, which the news outlet construed to mean the whistleblower was now under federal protection, according to Politico. 

On Sunday night, CBS wrote on Twitter: “‘60 Minutes’ has obtained a letter that indicates the government whistleblower who set off the impeachment inquiry of President Trump is under federal protection because they fear for their safety.”

NEWS ALERT: 60 Minutes completely misinterpreted contents of our letter, which is now published online at https://t.co/HjmBrEQLEi. Nor have we, as we stated earlier today, reached any agreement with Congress on contact with the whistleblower. Discussions remain ongoing. https://t.co/3XSwmtuRrn

— Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) September 30, 2019

Contained within the misinterpreted letter is a statement that the attorneys “appreciate your office’s support thus far to activate appropriate resources to ensure (the whistleblower’s) safety,” which ’60 Minutes’ construed as federal protection. 

The attorneys noted that President Trump had exacerbated concerns over the whistleblower’s safety, after he said “I want to know who’s the person that gave the Whistleblower, who’s the person thatgave the Whistleblower the information, because that’s close to a spy. You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? With spies and treason,right? We used to handle them a little differently than we do now.”

On Friday, President Trump blasted the whistleblower over Twitter, saying “Sounding more and more like the so-called Whistleblower isn’t a Whistleblower at all,” adding “In addition, all second hand information that proved to be so inaccurate that there may not have even been somebody else, a leaker or spy, feeding it to him or her? A partisan operative?”

And following a bombshell report by The Federalist which revealed that the intelligence community changed their requirement for first-hand whistleblower knowledge right as the CIA whistleblower’s second-hand report was filed, Trump tweeted “WOW, they got caught. End the Witch Hunt now!”

WOW, they got caught. End the Witch Hunt now! https://t.co/A5k3u9Rg3D

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 28, 2019

Trump addressed this again on Monday, tweeting in ALL CAPS: 

“WHO CHANGED THE LONG STANDING WHISTLEBLOWER RULES JUST BEFORE SUBMITTAL OF THE FAKE WHISTLEBLOWER REPORT?”

WHO CHANGED THE LONG STANDING WHISTLEBLOWER RULES JUST BEFORE SUBMITTAL OF THE FAKE WHISTLEBLOWER REPORT? DRAIN THE SWAMP!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2019