Don Jr. committed a federal crime by tweeting alleged whistleblower name, says Congressman
Earlier today, Donald Trump Jr. found himself inundated with criticism after he decided to share a link on Twitter to an article from far-right online rag Breitbart which purported to contain the possible identity of the brave whistleblower who originally exposed President Trump’s impeachable Ukraine scandal. The administration has been trying to expose this patriotic person’s name since he/she first revealed the information because they intend to engage in their usual underhanded smear tactics and ruin the individual’s credibility.
More importantly, Trump Jr.’s sharing of the article to his 4 million followers could very likely be endangering the life of the whistleblower, given that the increasingly unhinged members of the MAGA movement have already demonstrated a chilling willingness to go after people their president deems a threat. In addition to taking a stab at the whistleblower’s name, the Breitbart article alleges that he/she was involved with the people who helped create the “anti-Trump dossier” compiled by Christopher Steele.
The dossier has played a central part in the administration’s misinformation and conspiracy theory peddling efforts as they have tried to paint it as a concerted effort by the “Deep State” to undermine a legitimately elected president. Including such information only increases the chance that a Trump follower will take action into their own hands, perhaps even violently.
Now, it turns out that the First Son may have made a far bigger mistake than anticipated. Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI) has taken to Twitter to point out that intimidation of a whistleblower is a federal crime and went so far as to allege that Donald Trump Jr. broke the law with his tweet this morning.
Given that the president’s bumbling son has millions of rabid Republican Twitter followers and that the tweet was clearly meant to incite them again the whistleblower, Cicilline makes a great point. If so, Congress should investigate further and hold him accountable. Donald Jr. is clearly taking after his ignominious father in his blatant disregard for the rule of law.
Intimidation of a whistleblower is a federal crime. The President’s son broke the law this morning.
— David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) November 6, 2019
If these allegations gain steam Trump Jr. might end up regretting the tweets this morning in which he doubled down on his original possibly criminal tweet.
“I love the outrage about me tweeting an article about the ‘alleged’ whistleblower… also good to know you have other sources confirming,” he tweeted, clearly far more interested in the partisan usefulness of his actions rather than any of the concerns for the whistleblower’s safety.
Reporter Yashar Ali has stated that the White House denies knowing in advance that Trump Jr. would share the article. Jr. confirmed this. It could be false because he’s almost as big of a liar as his father, or it could be true given that’s become something of a loose cannon on Twitter when it comes to serving his father’s agenda.
He tweeted again soon after calling the entire media “#Triggered,” a favorite insult on the right.
Were it not abundantly clear by now that he’s incapable of feeling it, one would say that he should be ashamed of his actions and immediately take down the original tweet. In any case, he should be harshly condemned by both parties. This is unacceptable behavior and just goes to show how afraid the president and his inner circle are of this whistleblower and the ongoing impeachment inquiry. And they should be, justice is coming.
I love the outrage about me tweeting an article about the “alleged” whistleblower… also good to know you have other sources confirming.
Those thinking I coordinated with The White House to tweet out a @BreitbartNews article haven’t been watching my feed much. Didn’t happen! https://t.co/CEOZBmcX4p
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) November 6, 2019
The entire media is #Triggered that I (a private citizen) tweeted out a story naming the alleged whistleblower. Are they going to pretend that his name hasn’t been in the public domain for weeks now? Numerous people & news outlets including Real Clear Politics already ID’d him. https://t.co/bcamyTaXP3
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) November 6, 2019
This is a staff report from former Occupy Democrats Editor in Chief Colin Taylor or contributor Rob Haffney.