A new report by the Daily Beast revealed on Tuesday that a top staffer for Rep. Devin Nunes, the ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee, has been providing information to Republicans and conservative journalists about the whistleblower’s identity.
“A top aide to Rep. Devin Nunes has been providing conservative politicians and journalists with information—and misinformation—about the anonymous whistleblower who triggered the biggest crisis of Donald Trump’s presidency,” The Beast reported Monday, citing “two knowledgeable sources.”
“Derek Harvey, who works for Nunes, the ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee, has provided notes for House Republicans identifying the whistleblower’s name ahead of the high-profile depositions of Trump administration appointees and civil servants in the impeachment inquiry. The purpose of the notes, one source said, is to get the whistleblower’s name into the record of the proceedings, which committee chairman Adam Schiff has pledged to eventually release. In other words: it’s an attempt to out the anonymous official who helped trigger the impeachment inquiry,” The Beast explained.
“The whistleblower is not Harvey’s only target. Another is a staffer for the House intelligence committee Democrats whom The Daily Beast has agreed not to name due to concerns about reprisals against the staffer. Harvey, both sources said, has spread a false story alleging that the whistleblower contacted the staffer ahead of raising internal alarm about President Trump’s July 25th phone call attempting to get a “favor” from Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky to damage Trump’s rival Joe Biden. In right-wing circles, contact with Schiff is meant to discredit the whistleblower as partisan,” The Beast reported.
The Beast got one official to give a quote on Harvey’s actions.
“We are aware of these unsupported and false attacks on a respected member of our staff,” the official said. “It is completely inappropriate, and we have previously urged the Republican leadership to address this situation.”
The Beast noted Harvey’s extensive resume.
“There is no reasonable definition of a Deep State that excludes Derek Harvey from elite membership,” The Beast noted.
NEW: Devin Nunes aide Derek Harvey is spreading information — and misinformation — about the Ukraine whistleblower to GOP lawmakers and conservative journalists.
https://t.co/GY9Cq6LtSH— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) October 29, 2019
And if Harvey's name sounds familiar, it should. He's been a key adviser to Petraeus and Mike Flynn. Harvey also has a history of passing on information to damage colleagues, including for offenses like “butter[ing] up to Clinton people.”
— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) October 29, 2019
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