# Who is the whistleblower? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 11, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638 "2019-10-11T16:43:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2019, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/21 "2019-10-12T11:56:53Z")
Is there a list of people to choose from? (Maybe I ought to Google for that rather than asking you.) ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2019, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/22 "2019-10-12T13:15:28Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Is there a list of people to choose from? (Maybe I ought to Google for that rather than asking you.) Again, The NY Times is reporting that it is a male, career CIA officer who worked at the White House. I doubt the person would be known to any of us. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2019, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/23 "2019-11-10T22:15:18Z")
I don’t know, but Facebook is deleting mentions of Eric Ciaramella. ---
**Author:** ![Yankees\_1996\_Champs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Yankees\_1996\_Champs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yankees_1996_Champs)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2019, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/24 "2019-11-10T22:56:44Z")
1. Eric Ciaramella 2. Dan Coats 3. John Bolton I do not know otherwise ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2019, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/25 "2019-11-10T23:34:26Z")
Supposedly, Ciaramella. He seems a bit young to be the person that everyone would go to, unless there were some _real_ young’uns on the phone call. (How many people were on this thing, that Trump was really dumb enough to talk robbing the Watergate Office Building in front of?) But does seem like the sort who would Whistleblow. As I’ve noted elsewhere, from the testimony that we have heard, a number of people have said that they went to Bolton saying that they’d heard Trump commit a crime on the phone, and asking him what to do. He quit. Soon following, the whistleblower hit. Bolton is the type to pull the plug for not getting his way. Occam’s razor would suggest that there shouldn’t be two different people that everyone went to to ask what to do about the President committing a crime, only one. But, it’s still weird for someone like Bolton - rather than nameless flunky #37 - to be the whistleblower. Ciaramella is probably the guy, there really must have just been a boatload of people on that call, and my god is Trump an idiot. And, I will note, Ciaramella is a national hero, looking out for the law. Should Mr. Ciaramella ever need a place to lay low, I suggest he DM me. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2019, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/26 "2019-11-10T23:51:37Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > (How many people were on this thing, that Trump was really dumb enough to talk robbing the Watergate Office Building in front of?) I’ve been wondering that myself… [According to the BBC,](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49858318) at least a dozen: > [@](#): > > In the case of the president’s phone call with Mr Zelensky, according to the whistleblower’s complaint, about a dozen people were listening to their conversation. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2019, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/27 "2019-11-11T04:59:22Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > The whistle should be part of the wardrobe for anybody protesting trump. Just blow that sucker anywhere and everywhere he appears. I’ll go with that! Are any whistle memes circulating? ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2019, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/28 "2019-11-11T09:35:50Z")
No matter who the whistleblower is, if they end up getting Jeffrey Epstein’d, no one is going to be blaming Hillary Goddamn Clinton this time! ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2019, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/29 "2019-11-11T10:43:22Z")
It doesn’t matter who the whistleblower was. Since others who are not staying anonymous have come forth and said the same thing, no one should care that the WB is not coming forth. The Republicans are bringing him up as part of their smokescreen defense. Don’t be sidetracked by this, it’s totally irrelevant who he is. ---
**Author:** ![Barack\_Obama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dc4da7/32.png) [@Barack\_Obama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barack_Obama)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/30 "2019-11-12T01:53:00Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > It doesn’t matter who the whistleblower was. Since others who are not staying anonymous have come forth and said the same thing, no one should care that the WB is not coming forth. The Republicans are bringing him up as part of their smokescreen defense. Don’t be sidetracked by this, it’s totally irrelevant who he is. Exactly ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/31 "2019-11-12T02:17:17Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > No matter who the whistleblower is, if they end up getting Jeffrey Epstein’d, no one is going to be blaming Hillary Goddamn Clinton this time! She’s just that clever. And she did, after all, travel back in time to force Paul Manafort at gunpoint to work for Russian interests in Eastern Europe, so as to ensnare future Trump - who had not yet announced his candidacy for President and would not for several years - in links to Russia after he won the Presidency from her. Sadly, she wasn’t smart enough to spring her well-sprung trap during the campaign itself. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/32 "2019-11-12T02:19:45Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > It doesn’t matter who the whistleblower was. Since others who are not staying anonymous have come forth and said the same thing, no one should care that the WB is not coming forth. The Republicans are bringing him up as part of their smokescreen defense. Don’t be sidetracked by this, it’s totally irrelevant who he is. I don’t think it’s a smokescreen (or at least, I don’t see how it could serve as one). The only motive that I can see is to intimidate others out of considering going to Congress and talking about what’s happening in the White House. They need to make sure that it stays a discrete problem and not a flood of problems. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/33 "2019-11-12T03:08:47Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I don’t think it’s a smokescreen (or at least, I don’t see how it could serve as one). It’s a smokescreen in the same way that “if the gloves don’t fit, you must acquit” was. That is, making people think that something very minor is totally fatal to the prosecution’s case. Another part of the smokescreen is that Hunter Biden isn’t going to be subpoenaed. What he did or didn’t do was totally irrelevant to what the president did, yet the R’s are making it seem like it’s a critical issue. > [@](#): > > The only motive that I can see is to intimidate others out of considering going to Congress and talking about what’s happening in the White House. They need to make sure that it stays a discrete problem and not a flood of problems. That may be part of it too. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/34 "2019-11-12T04:22:35Z")
It’s QAnon They are luring Clinton, Pelosi and Schiff into a false sense of security before they break up the pedophile ring once and for all. 4-dimensional chess, sheeple. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/35 "2019-11-12T04:29:54Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > …The only motive that I can see is to intimidate others out of considering going to Congress and talking about what’s happening in the White House. They need to make sure that it stays a discrete problem and not a flood of problems. I’ve practiced criminal defense for about 3 years now. Cases (especially drug cases) are often brought based on an investigation that began with an unnamed confidential informant. Most times, the information from that informant provides the basis for a search warrant which reveals the incriminating evidence that leads to criminal charges. Defendants always want to know the name of the informant, but law enforcement never reveals it. Why? Because it is irrelevant to the fact that incriminating evidence has been uncovered, and **because the only real motivation for learning the name is to take revenge on the snitch.** > [@dtilque](#): > > Another part of the smokescreen is that Hunter Biden isn’t going to be subpoenaed. What he did or didn’t do was totally irrelevant to what the president did, yet the R’s are making it seem like it’s a critical issue. What Hunter Biden did was eerily similar to the type of career George W Bush has while HIS daddy was Vice President (in the 80’s)…sort of a slacker with a substance abuse past, getting investors to bail him out (Arbusto) or get him on a board of directors (Harken Energy) for a sinecure. > **[Arbusto Energy](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbusto_Energy)** > > Arbusto Energy was an oil and gas exploration firm started in 1977 by former U.S. president George W. Bush. In 1984, the company merged with Spectrum 7 Energy Corp. > Arbusto Energy was organized in 1977, but did not begin operations until after Bush's unsuccessful 1978 run for Representative from Texas's 19th congressional district. In March 1979, the company began raising funds for oil exploration through private offerings. In April 1982, Bush decided to begin offering public drilling partnersh... > **[Harken Energy scandal](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harken_Energy_scandal)** > > The Harken Energy Scandal refers to a series of transactions entered into during 1990 involving Harken Energy. These transactions are alleged to involve either issues relating to insider trading, or influence peddling. Although no wrongdoings were found by any investigating authorities, the matter generated political controversy. > George W. Bush ran an energy company called Spectrum 7 during the 1980s. In the mid-1980s the oil market was in a slump, with prices dropping daily. The firm was in fin... ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/36 "2019-11-12T05:28:54Z")
I’m sure the subject must have come up but I don’t recall any of the talking heads at MSNBC or CNN talking about this lately… if we suppose that we don’t approve of Joe Biden using a little bit of nepotism to help his wayward son along WTF IS IVANKA TRUMP DOING IN THE GODDAMN WHITE HOUSE? It also occurs to me that it does not matter who the whistleblower is or what their politics are. **The only thing a person has to do to become an enemy of Donald Trump is disagree with him**. See for example, John McCain, a hero amongst Republicans whose grave is occasionally pissed on by Trump who will forever hold a grudge. As we’ve seen with the recent testimony of people who are _definitely not Democrats_, other aspects of their character are held up as reasons why they hate Trump and are trying to sabotage him. However, at the end of the day what the Republicans are forgetting is that it doesn’t matter what the politics of the police are when they catch a bank robber in the act. OJ Simpson’s lawyers were able to turn the OJ Simpson trial into the Mark Fuhrman trial for a while but I doubt Trump will have any such luck. His opponent could be AOC and Bernie Sanders holding hands or it could be the ghosts of Ronnie Reagan and John McCain holding guns and bibles… Trump is still going to talk the same shit about them. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/37 "2019-11-12T05:41:00Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > It also occurs to me that it does not matter who the whistleblower is or what their politics are. In fact, as a [recent article points out](https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-is-trump-obsessed-with-outing-the-whistle-blower), the whistleblower’s actions are routine protocol, not a daring defiant act of sabotage: > [@](#): > > In truth, the real significance of this whistle-blower’s whistle-blowing is that, rather than leaking word of the famous Ukrainian phone call to the media, he or she acted in a neatly procedural and tightly regulated manner. As sanctioned by the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act of 1998, he or she submitted the complaint to the Inspector General, who reviewed it for credibility and then passed it along to the director of national intelligence, who would have sent it to Congress for investigation if Trump’s Justice Department hadn’t blocked the normal progression. The whistle-blower is the one who is acting in the prescribed lawful way; the President and his henchmen are the ones—no surprise here—calling on the media to violate the point and purpose of the law. […] > > We do not all share, perhaps, sufficient awareness of the fact that the whistle-blower is called the whistle-blower not by some accident of tabloid nomenclature—the way that the winning quarterback of any team except the Jets is called “the franchise”—but by statute. We actually have a complex institutional and statuary system that allows men and women in subsidiary roles in government to out the wrongdoing of their superiors without fear of retaliation. […] > > Our laws encourage functionaries within the government to report on skullduggery by their bosses, in the knowledge that there is an orderly, safe procedure to do it. […] Whistle-blowing is not merely legitimate in our system; it is uniquely encouraged and protected. […] > > Why, then, the vengeful obsession with exposing the whistle-blower? In part, it may be because Trump knows that he can persuade at least part of his base that the person is just a servant of the opposition. In part, the rage against the whistle-blower is there to intimidate future whistle-blowers. > > But the rage is also there to assert, even at some cost in relevance, the central rule of Trumpism, which is that no one can oppose Trump. The interests of the state are identical with the interests of the boss: _L’état, c’est_ him. To a degree that we still cannot quite accept, Trump’s rage is against liberal democracy itself, for limiting his power. He is leading an instinctive assault on the rule of law, whose simplest principle is that the cops and the judges and the bureaucrats work for the state and its system, not for the current political leader and his interests—that they work for the people, not for the President. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/38 "2019-11-12T05:41:38Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > What Hunter Biden did was eerily similar to the type of career George W Bush has while HIS daddy was Vice President (in the 80’s)…sort of a slacker with a substance abuse past, getting investors to bail him out (Arbusto) or get him on a board of directors (Harken Energy) for a sinecure. > > [Arbusto Energy - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbusto_Energy) > > [Harken Energy scandal - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harken_Energy_scandal) Hunter Biden for prez, 2028! ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/39 "2019-11-12T06:00:23Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Hunter Biden for prez, 2028! Too soon! 😛 My father in law has served on a variety of boards and I asked him about that process. Maybe it’s different in the Ukraine but around here, being on the board does not mean they hand you the keys to the kingdom. As for where I work right now, it’s possible someone could approach me saying that they are on the board and they want to do something sketchy that is actually okay because they are on the board. That still would not give them access to actually do it. I mean maybe that’s just me being savvy to social engineering tactics. You’re on the board? Try not to get any splinters while asking my boss’s boss if you can have the keys to that safe over there. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638/40 "2019-11-12T15:45:26Z")
It would go a long way in restoring my faith in humanity if the whistleblower turns out to be Kelly Ann Conway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-whistleblower/841638.md?page=3)