Schiff Rejects GOP Request For Whistleblower To Testify In Impeachment Proceedings

Rep. Adam Schiff rejected House Republicans’ request on Saturday to call the Trump whistleblower to testify publicly in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, calling the testimony “redundant and unnecessary.”

Rep. Devin Nunes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, listed the whistleblower, who is reported to be a CIA analyst, along with seven other potential witnesses that Republicans want to have testify publicly in the impeachment proceedings.

Along with the whistleblower, Nunes listed Hunter Biden and his business partner, Devon Archer, along with former Fusion GPS contractor Nellie Ohr and former DNC operative Alexandra Chalupa.

Schiff shot down calling the whistleblower to testify, asserting that many of the allegations in his Aug. 12 complaint “not only confirms, but far exceeds, the initial information in the whistleblower’s complaint.”

“The whistleblower’s testimony is therefore redundant and unnecessary. In light of the President’s threats, the individual’s appearance before us would only place their personal safety at grave risk,” said Schiff.

That is a reversal for the Democrat, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee and is leading the impeachment investigation for Democrats.

Before the whistleblower’s complaint was released on Sept. 26, Schiff said that Congress would want to hear from the whistleblower. But he changed his tune on the matter after it was revealed that the whistleblower had contact with one of Schiff’s aides prior to filing the complaint. Schiff failed to disclose in numerous interviews leading up to the release of the complaint that his aide had contact with the whistleblower.

Nunes formally called on Schiff to testify in a deposition about his office’s contact with the whistleblower on Friday.

In denying the GOP request to hear from the whistleblower, Schiff said that the impeachment investigation “will not serve as vehicles for any Member to carry out the same sham investigations into the Bidens or debunked conspiracies about 2016 U.S. election interference that President Trump pressed Ukraine to conduct for his personal political benefit.”