Rumors swirling the anti-Trump whistleblower was one of Brennan's old CIA humps detailed over to — planted inside — the White House to spy on Trump and help thwart the investigation of #Spygate which also involves Obama DOS/FBI/CIA skullduggery in Ukraine — Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) September 26, 2019

One of the narratives that has come from Thursday’s “whistleblower hearing” featuring the Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire is that the whistleblower him- or herself was acting in good faith.

Maguire said it himself during his testimony. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Ca.), Chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, was quick to agree. Any number of pundits have reiterated it.

And that’s an important narrative for the Democrats because it also broke Wednesday that the whistleblower in question is a CIA agent who had been stationed in the White House, lending credence to Trump’s charge that this is nothing more than Russia Collusion, Part 11 (see Sperry’s tweet above).

The officer was detailed at the White House but has since returned to the CIA. His complaint became public earlier on Thursday, and it revealed, if accurate, that the White House officials “had intervened to ‘lock down’ all records of the phone call, especially the word-for-word transcript of the call.” The complaint did not contain firsthand accounts of the controversial phone call, only secondhand and thirdhand information. “Any decision to report any perceived identifying information of the whistle-blower is deeply concerning and reckless, as it can place the individual in harm’s way,” said Andrew Bakaj, the whistleblower’s lead counsel told the Times. “The whistle-blower has a right to anonymity.”

Perhaps the whistleblower did follow the law and have good intent. But it strains credibility that aa highly trained intelligence official would make that bold a claim against a sitting president based on third-hand information without some passion or prejudice involved.

Whatever the case may be, the whistleblower affair has solidified one thing for certain: Trump is still unable to let his guard down and speak freely. How that kind of microscope ultimately benefits the country remains unclear.