Washington (CNN) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she told President Donald Trump that he's in her "wheelhouse" when he attacks the whistleblower, whose complaint initially prompted the House impeachment inquiry of the President.

"I will make sure he does not intimidate the whistleblower. I was there. I told the President you're in my wheelhouse when you come after the whistleblower," Pelosi said in part of a CBS News interview released Saturday.

Trump has repeatedly attacked and tried to discredit the whistleblower, and has made false claims about the individual on Twitter and at his rallies. A lawyer for the whistleblower sent a letter to the White House warning the President to "cease and desist" attacking his client.

"This is really important, especially when it comes to intelligence, that someone who would be courageous enough to point out truth to power and then through the filter of a Trump appointed inspector general who found it of urgent concern and ... then took it to the next steps," Pelosi said.

Pelosi said Trump has "every opportunity to present his case" before Congress, and could "take the oath of office or he could do it in writing."

Read More