U.S. Sen. Rand Paul said he believes the whistleblower, who filed a complaintalleging President Trump asked the President of Ukraine to investigate a political rival, and that White House staff intervened to “lock down” the record of the phone call, should come forward and be identified.
Paul made his comments to media Tuesday after a roundtable discussion hosted by the Purchase Area Development District in Graves County.
“I think we probably deserve to know who the whistleblower is. You know, our criminal justice is predicated on if I accuse you of something, I have to show up in court and accuse you of it. So I think there’s reasons to have whistleblower statutes and to have anonymity,” Paul said. “But if you’re accusing a person of something where the ramifications are impeachment, I think that person ought to come forward.”
The Bowling Green Republican said he believes the whistleblower complaint is "hearsay” because the whistleblower didn’t “directly” hear about the events described in the complaint.
In the complaint, the whistleblower said they weren’t a “direct witness” to the allegations made, but that the whistleblower believed the allegations to be credible because the accounts of multiple officials were “consistent with one another” while also being corroborated by media reports.
Paul said he would prefer the public decide on allegations against Trump through the ballot box in 2020 than through an impeachment inquiry.
“I think it distracts from things that are important for the country to get done,” Paul said. “So I don’t think [the impeachment inquiry is] going to go anywhere. I think it’s going to be perceived by the public as a partisan thing.”
