Jason Chaffetz on Republicans pressing for whistleblower testimony: 'There’s nothing in the rules that says you have to be anonymous'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jason Chaffetz told “Outnumbered Overtime” that Republicans are “right” to push for public testimony from the whistleblower while Democrats conduct an impeachment inquiry of President Trump.
“If you’re going to be an anonymous witness, you can be called before Congress," Chaffetz, a former Utah congressman, said. "There’s nothing in the rules that says you have to be anonymous. If you were a victim, we would go to great lengths to make sure that that person was protected and didn’t necessarily have to appear in public.”
Hours after dozens of Republicans stormed a closed-door deposition in a secure area and disrupted Democrats' Trump impeachment inquiry, top House GOP leaders pushed Democrats for more transparency, including public testimony from the whistleblower at the center of the probe.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}REPUBLICANS PRESS FOR WHISTLEBLOWER TESTIMONY, AND FOR ANSWERS ON A HEARING DELAY
In an initial letter Wednesday to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, Republican lawmakers Jim Jordan, Devin Nunes, and Michael McCaul pushed for the whistleblower to come out of hiding so that his or her "sources and credibility" can be "fully assessed."
The committee chairs noted that Schiff had previously promised that the whistleblower would provide "unfiltered" testimony "very soon" concerning an Aug. 12 complaint.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}READ THE REPUBLICANS' LETTER TO SCHIFF
But, the Republicans charged, Schiff abruptly "reversed course" after reports of the whistleblower's potential political bias emerged, along with evidence that Democratic congressional committee staff had spoken to the whistleblower before the complaint was filed.
The Republicans asserted that evidence has also emerged that "contradicts" the claims in the whistleblower's initial complaint, including that the Ukrainian president has said he felt no "pressure" during a July call with President Trump to investigate 2020 Democratic front-runner Joe Biden, his son Hunter and Biden business interests in Ukraine.
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Chaffetz said Thursday: "I before argued that I don’t think the witness is material, but if they’re [House Republicans are] going to continue to pursue this and they want to know who the witness is then they should make sure that they [whistleblower] give a testimony."
Fox News’ Gregg Re contributed to this report.