Something big is going on with the FBI and the Trump whistleblower right now
Gordon Sondland’s televised impeachment testimony today is such a bodyblow to Donald Trump’s collapsing presidency, it’s raising questions about what might come next. If Trump had any sense, he’d be seeking a resignation plea deal in exchange for reduced prison time, while he might still be able to get one. But knowing Trump, there always antics involved.
This brings us to the surreal news flash from CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz: “The FBI has asked to interview the whistleblower who filed the complaint about the President’s July 25 call with Ukraine’s president that ultimately led to the current House impeachment inquiry.” Prokupecz says that he’s not entirely sure what’s going on here.
From where we’re sitting, there are only two possibilities here, and they’re at opposite ends of the spectrum. The whistleblower is a witness to serious federal crimes, so the FBI should be talking to him or her as part of a criminal investigation into Donald Trump and others involved in the Ukraine extortion plot. But the FBI has been at least partly co-opted by Donald Trump’s criminally corrupt Attorney General Bill Barr.
So it’s also possible that Trump and Barr are misusing the FBI’s resources to try to expose, intimidate, or frame the whistleblower in what would be plainly illegal fashion. Stay tuned, because whatever is going on here, it’s weird. But to be clear, Trump can’t magically save himself by sending the FBI after the whistleblower. That horse left the barn a long time ago.
