A bombshell report claims a National Security Council staffer discussed President Trump’s controversial July 25 phone call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky with multiple people outside council before the whistleblower complaint was made public.
Sources told Fox News on Saturday that NSC leadership were alerted to the fact that someone within their ranks had been relaying details of the conversation to outsiders, meaning that they had directly breached protocol.
The loose-lipped NSC staffer – who has not been identified – reportedly described Trump’s call as ‘outrageous’.
During the call with Zelensky, Trump pushed for an investigation into why a Ukranian prosecutor investigating an energy company had been fired.
Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, sat on the board of the energy company – and thus Trump’s query has been seen by many as attempt for Zelensky to ‘dig up dirt’ on Biden, who is the Commander-in-chief’s political rival.
There are currently 178 NSC staff members, and each is subject to strict confidentiality agreements.
Staffers are assigned to support the President as well as other members of the NSC -including the Vice President, Secretary of State, and Secretary of Defense.
The Fox News report comes just two days after it was revealed that the number of NSC staffers will be drastically reduced, amid anger within President Trump’s camp about internal leaks.
A bombshell report claims a National Security Council staffer discussed President Trump’s controversial July 25 phone call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky with multiple people outside council before the whistleblower complaint was made public
National security adviser Robert O’Brien said late Thursday that he wants to gradually eliminate about half of the 178 staff members of the National Security Council over the next 15 months.
O’Brien told NSC employees at a town hall meeting that the size of the staff grew to more than 200 under the Obama administration and that he wants to return it to the level it was under President George W. Bush and have about 100 people by as early as next February.
‘It just ballooned into a massive, you know, bureaucracy … under the last administration,’ he said in an interview later on the Fox Business Network program Lou Dobbs Tonight.
Trump has also complained about people in the NSC who apparently provided a male CIA agent with information about the July 25 phone call he had with the Ukrainian president, in which he pressed for an investigation of his political rival, Joe Biden.
During the call with Zelensky, Trump pushed for an investigation into why a Ukranian prosecutor investigating an energy company had been fired. The pair are pictured together on September 25 – exactly two months after their phone conversation
After hearing about the phone call, the CIA agent lodged a whistleblower complaint, sparking the current impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
While the whistleblower will now have to give testimony as part of the inquiry, he may not do so in person in order to protect his identity.
The whistleblower has reportedly asked to submit written testimony to Congress instead of appearing in person in order to stay anonymous.
If the request is granted it would see the testimony given during a closed-door congressional hearing or submitted as a written document.
Fears the whistleblower’s safety could be put in jeopardy if he is publicly identified have so far led to his name being kept a closely guarded secret among lawyers and House Democrats familiar with his allegations.
Trump’s phone call has been seen by many as attempt to dig up dirt on Hunter and Joe Biden (pictured)
The president has previously gone after the whistleblower, identified by the New York Times as a CIA officer, and demanded the right to face his accuser.
The Washington Post reported that House Democrats may interview the whistleblower at an off-site location to protect their identity, amid concerns it could leak.
The whistleblower has previously been identified as having a Democratic party affiliation.
On Wednesday, attorneys for the CIA whistleblower issued a carefully-worded statement denying that the had a ‘professional’ link to a 2020 Democratic candidate, saying he is an apolitical civil servant.
His lawyers said they wanted to ‘clarify some facts’ and denied in a statement that the whistleblower made the complaint due to any political allegiance.