NASHVILLE – An attorney for the whistleblower whose complaint spurred the U.S. House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, is calling on U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., to step down from the Senate’s Whistleblower Protection Caucus for her attack on the still-anonymous whistleblower and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who testified in House impeachment proceedings.
In a tweet on Thursday, attorney Mark Zaid, who specializes in government whistleblower cases, stated “Senator @MarshaBlackburn should resign from Senate #Whistleblower Caucus. Her comments are completely contrary to everything that Caucus is supposed to stand for and protect.”
Following that in a second missive, Zaid stated “Members of Senate Whistleblower Caucus should protect #whistleblowers, not attack them,” adding that both the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, as well as the Intelligence Community’s Inspector General have “made it clear lawful protections exist. So why is Senator @MarshaBlackburn pretending to be bi-partisan Caucus Member given her many attacks?”
With Congress now out of session, Blackburn’s office had no immediate comment.
A staunch and sometimes fiery defender of Trump, Blackburn caused an uproar on Nov. 22 when the Senate Judiciary Committee member charged in her own tweet that “Vindictive Vindman is the ‘whistleblower’s’ handler.”