Both the whistle-blower at the center of the faux Trump-Ukraine scandal and his lawyer have been exposed as partisan hacks as quickly as they’ve been identified.

There’s a scramble at Facebook and Youtube, whereas any mention of the alleged whistle-blower’s name (Eric Ciaramella) is being censored. Perhaps they don’t want us to know his partisan history.

Ciaramella is a CIA analyst and National Security Council staffer who started that work in the Obama administration. A registered Democrat, Ciaramella had previously helped Alexandra Chalupa try to dig up dirt on Trump and his associates from Ukrainian sources during the 2016 election (which Dan and I discuss in our book Spygate).

The whistle-blower complaint document read more like a legal complaint than a typical whistle-blower complaint, and his lawyer has since been identified as Mark Zaid.

Like Ciaramella, Zaid’s intentions are clear. Just days after Trump was inaugurated, Zaid tweeted that the “coup has started. First of many steps… Impeachment will follow ultimately.” The tweet came after Trump fired former acting Attorney General Sally Yates.

We can appreciate the transparency at least.

Zaid followed that up with plenty of other tweets in the same theme. He wrote in May of that year “Johnson (1868), Nixon (1973), Clinton (1998) impeachment hearings. Next up @realDonaldTrump (2017),” and “45 years from now we might be recalling stories regarding the impeachment of @realDonaldTrump. I’ll be old, but will be worth the wait” in June.

Johnson (1868), Nixon (1973), Clinton (1998) impeachment hearings. Next up @realDonaldTrump (2017) pic.twitter.com/hdaxVIWSy9 — Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) May 9, 2017

And 45 years from now we might be recalling stories regarding the impeachment of @realDonaldTrump. I'll be old, but will be worth the wait https://t.co/x6rvUIJJdL — Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) June 20, 2017

In July he said “We will get rid of him,” and boasted that the country would survive not only Trump, but his supporters.

It's very scary. We will get rid of him, and this country is strong enough to survive even him and his supporters. We have to. — Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) July 2, 2017

In December 2018 Zaid appeared on WBAL News Radio to exclusively discuss the prospects for impeachment. After discussing the usual Russia conspiracies, Zaid predicts that the House switching to Democrat control could finally be the catalyst for Trump facing consequences for non-existent Russian collusion (though he clarifies that he thinks the “cover-up may be worse than the crime”).

And in an age where any local celebrity will have their entire twitter feeds analyzed under a microscope by the media, little has been reported on some of Zaid’s other mishaps, such as when he once suggested killing a random conservative twitter user to help out with population control.

Wow I forgot all about this…the time the whistleblower coup lawyer told me I should die! @philllosoraptor @thefactualprep @naturalrights23 https://t.co/ejB7xZxYsX — JAC (@michcusejoe5) November 9, 2019

Or when he bragged about getting security clearances for people with child porn “issues”:

I've gotten clearances for guys who had child porn issues — Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) February 11, 2018

Has the media finally found a lawyer more creepy than Michael Avenatti?

If so, I guess we’ll start seeing CNN give him airtime soon.