President Trump insisted Wednesday that the government must catch the “spy” in his administration who provided an anonymous whistleblower with what he calls false information about his conversation with Ukraine’s president that has led to a rapid impeachment inquiry.

During a meeting in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump said either the whistleblower fabricated details of the July 25 phone call, “or the person giving the information to the whistleblower was dishonest.”

“This country has to find out who that person was, because that person’s a spy,” the president said.

The whistleblower’s complaint alleges that Mr. Trump pressured Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Democratic front-runner Joseph R. Biden and his son, Hunter, over a Ukrainian gas company that paid the younger Biden $3 million. Democrats say Mr. Trump should be impeached for withholding military aid to Ukraine as leverage to solicit foreign interference in the 2020 election.

The whistleblower, reportedly a CIA analyst, has sought to remain anonymous as allowed by law. The person said the complaint was based on information from other government employees, some of whom were allegedly listening to the president’s call as standard procedure.

The president said he outfoxed Democrats by releasing a transcript of the phone call last week.

“Here’s where I fooled them: They never thought in a million years that I’d release the conversation,” the president said.

Chairman Adam B. Schiff, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which expects to hear from the whistleblower in closed-door testimony, said Mr. Trump is trying to bully the person.

“This is a blatant effort to intimate witnesses,” the California Democrat told reporters. “It’s an incitement to violence.”

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.