Senator Rand Paul was stopped from asking a question in which he outed the suspected intelligence community whistleblower by Chief Justice John Roberts during the impeachment trial.
On Tuesday Paul appeared on the Senate floor to read the question aloud.
My exact question was:
Are you aware that House intelligence committee staffer Shawn Misko had a close relationship with Eric Ciaramella while at the National Security Council together 1/2
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 30, 2020
My question is not about a “whistleblower” as I have no independent information on his identity. My question is about the actions of known Obama partisans within the NSC and House staff and how they are reported to have conspired before impeachment proceedings had even begun.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 30, 2020
According to Fox News:
The question made reference to two individuals, including one person who has been reported to be the whistleblower who filed a complaint about Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Fox News has not confirmed the identity of the whistleblower.
“Now during the proceedings, I asked a question that was disallowed. And I’m going to ask that question again this morning, because the Constitution does protect debate and does protect the asking of questions,” the libertarian-leaning senator said. “I think they made a big mistake not allowing my question. My question did not talk about anybody who is a whistleblower. My question did not accuse anybody of being a whistleblower.”
Paul claimed he “simply named two people’s names,” then proceeded to repeat his question, reading the names of two individuals.
“And you say, well we should protect the whistleblower, and the whistleblower deserves anonymity. The law does not preserve anonymity,” Paul said. “His boss is not supposed to say anything about him, he’s not supposed to be fired. I’m for that.”
Paul said he named the individuals out of necessity stating he was concerned over a plot to take down President Trump.
