In the wake of reports exposing Eric Ciaramella as the alleged “whistleblower” behind the Democrats’ partisan impeachment inquiry, there are new allegations emerging that he allegedly leaked damaging material against Trump before his departure from the National Security Council.

Ciaramella had a temporary position in the West Wing that ended in June 2017, dating from the Obama administration, and RealClearInvestigations published a report this week alleging he is the whistleblower whose complaint prompted impeachment proceedings against President Trump.

The whistleblower’s lawyers, however, have refused to confirm or deny the identity in the wake of the reports.

Andrew P. Bakaj, Esq. and Mark S. Zaid, Esq. said in a statement:

We neither confirm nor deny the identity of the Intelligence Community Whistleblower. Our client is legally entitled to anonymity.

Disclosure of the name of any person who may be suspected to be the whistleblower places that individual and their family in great physical danger. Any physical harm the individual and/or their family suffers as a result of disclosure means that the individuals and publications reporting such names will be personally liable for that harm. Such behavior is at the pinnacle of irresponsibility and is intentionally reckless.

On his radio program on Friday, Rush Limbaugh cited the RealClearInvestigations piece that disclosed the name that reportedly has been circulating inside the Beltway for weeks and the revelation in the report that one of Ciaramella’s leaks led to the “Putin told Trump to fire former FBI director James Comey” rumor:

In May 2017, Ciaramella went “outside his chain of command,” according to a former NSC co-worker, to send an email alerting another agency that Trump happened to hold a meeting with Russian diplomats in the Oval Office the day after firing Comey, who led the Trump-Russia investigation. The email also noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had phoned the president a week earlier. Contents of the email appear to have ended up in the media, which reported Trump boasted to the Russian officials about firing Comey, whom he allegedly called “crazy, a real nut job.” In effect, Ciaramella helped generate the “Putin fired Comey” narrative, according to the research dossier making the rounds in Congress, a copy of which was obtained by RealClearInvestigations. Ciaramella allegedly argued that “President Putin suggested that President Trump fire Comey,” the report said. “In the days after Comey’s firing, this presidential action was used to further political and media calls for the standup [sic] of the special counsel to investigate ‘Russia collusion.’”

Despite the suggestions that the “whistleblower” is a partisan anti-Trumper, the Democrats are pushing ahead with their impeachment inquiry.

The Hill reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said on Friday that the investigation into Trump may expand beyond the phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that contained the alleged “quid pro quo” the president sought from his counterpart.

Pelosi said in an interview with Bloomberg Television, according to the Hill:

What we’re talking about now is taking us into a whole other class of objection to what the president has done. And there may be other — there were 11 obstruction of justice provisions in the Mueller report. Perhaps some of them will be part of this.

“But again, that will be part of the inquiry, to see where we go,” Pelosi said.

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