by Walter W. Murray, reporter
A key figure in the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump has deep and extensive ties to the Democrats, working inside the White House of then-President Barack Obama and even helping former Vice President Joe Biden – specifically on Ukraine.
And that means this figure… relied on by Democrats as a supposed impartial witness in the show trial going on right now… isn’t the unbiased figure they’re making him out to be.
Not even close. He’s much closer to a political operative – one with an alleged agenda to work against Trump.
Judicial Watch has been examining the White House visitor logs of CIA analyst Eric Ciaramella.
RealClearInvestigations last month said Ciaramella is the whistleblower who made the explosive claims about Trump and Ukraine that led to the impeachment proceedings now underway in Congress.
That connection has not been confirmed elsewhere, including by Judicial Watch.
But it has raised interest in Ciaramella, who worked on issues related to Ukraine in both the Obama and Trump White House.
In one instance, Judicial Watch found that Ciaramella met in 2015 with Daria Kaleniuk, co-founder and executive director of a Ukrainian group called Anticorruption Action Center.
But this wasn’t just any old group.
Judicial Watch said it’s funded by liberal billionaire activist George Soros.
Judicial Watch said Ciaramella also met with Gina Lentine who was formerly the Eurasia program coordinator at the Open Society Foundation, also funded by Soros.
Ciaramella specialized in Russia and Ukraine.
He was assigned to the White House at a time when then-Vice President Joe Biden was pressuring Ukraine to fire top prosecutor Viktor Shokin just as Ukrainian gas company Burisma was facing a potential investigation there.
Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, was paid $50,000 a month to serve on the Burisma board, and critics say the vice president was trying to protect his son from any potential investigation.
If he was, it worked: Ukraine fired Shokin.
It’s not clear what, if any, involvement Ciaramella had with Biden on Ukraine, but Republican leaders say it’s time we learned more.
“I think this person should be interviewed, Eric Ciaramella, and I think he is a material witness to the Joe Biden White House, to the Obama White House, because he was there at the Ukraine desk,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on OANN.
#BREAKING: Sen. Rand Paul names the alleged whistleblower, and tells @OANN he believes the individual should testify before House impeachment investigators to determine his involvement in the process, citing reported links to the Obama White House. pic.twitter.com/W0y02Mp2Ua
— Jenn Franco KESQ (@jennfranconews) November 14, 2019
Paul said he’s not sure if Ciaramella is the whistleblower, but it’s important to hear from him either way.
A colleague in the House agreed. Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) tweeted:
100%. I refuse to cower before the authoritarian intimidation campaign.
He’s not Voldemort. And he’s not a bona fide whistleblower. Even if he were, he wouldn’t be entitled to secrecy.
Eric Ciamarella is a deep state conspirator. He needs to testify now. https://t.co/JOxhEOOJiA
— Dan Bishop (@danbishopnc) November 12, 2019
Conservative TV and radio host Glenn Beck said that if Ciaramella is indeed the whistleblower, it’s a huge problem for Democrats.
Beck noted a part of the RealClearInvestigations report that said Ciaramella, who was in the Trump White House as a holdover from the Obama administration, was quickly sent back to the CIA amid concerns over leaking.
“He was accused of working against Trump and leaking against Trump,” an unnamed former NSC official told the website.
Beck said being “kicked out of the White House for leaking information and pushing Russia collusion hoaxes” should be enough to discredit him as a witness before Congress, then added as part of a lengthy series of tweets:
19/ He also worked directly with DNC operative Alexandra Chalupa who was tasked with working alongside the Ukrainian Embassy in the U.S. to dig up dirt on Donald Trump.
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) November 14, 2019
20/ And if all of this isn’t enough to discredit him as a witness, he ALSO worked alongside @JoeBiden when he was made the “point man” in Ukraine. It’s becoming all too painfully obvious why @RepAdamSchiff doesn’t want anyone talking to this guy.
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) November 14, 2019
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said on Fox News that even if it turns out that Ciaramella is the whistleblower, he’s not entitled to the protections claimed by the Democrats for one key reason.
“He’s not a whistleblower under the law,” Fitton pointed out, noting that he went to Congress first and not his superiors as he should have.
“We work with whistleblowers here all the time at Judicial Watch,” he said. “This is the opposite of whistleblowing. This is leaking. This is a conspiracy.”
— Walter W. Murray is a reporter for The Horn News. He is an outspoken conservative and a survival expert, and is the author of “America’s Final Warning.”