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Kristen Soltis Anderson
Washington Examiner magazine
Monday, January 27, 2020
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/joe-biden-worked-with-whistleblower-when-he-was-vice-president-officials-reveal

EXCERPT As an experienced CIA official on the NSC with the deep knowledge of Ukraine that he demonstrated in his complaint, it is probable that the infamous whistleblower (who sparked impeachment) briefed Biden and likely that he accompanied him on Air Force Two during at least one of the six visits the 2020 candidate made to the country.

A former Trump administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said Biden’s work on foreign affairs brought him into close proximity with the whistleblower either at the CIA or when he was detailed to the White House.

“This person, after working with Biden, may feel defensive towards him because he feels [Biden] is being falsely attacked. Maybe he is even talking to Biden’s staff,” the former official said. “Maybe it is innocent, maybe not.”

Last month, the whistleblower accused President Trump of abusing his position by asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company. His complaint is now at the center of a Democrat-led impeachment inquiry, prompting Trump and his allies to cry foul.

Biden was President Barack Obama’s “point man” on Ukraine, making a half dozen trips there in his eight years as vice president. Those trips involved briefings from senior intelligence officials and NSC officers, some of whom traveled with him to Kyiv and elsewhere.

“The Whistleblower has ties to one of my DEMOCRAT OPPONENTS,” tweeted Trump, after the “professional” link was revealed by the Washington Examiner. “Why does the ICIG allow this scam to continue?”

Trump said Thursday he did not know the identity of the whistleblower.

The connection to Biden has emerged a week after Atkinson, the Intelligence Community’s inspector general, briefed the House Intelligence Committee on the whistleblower’s complaint.

After the report on what Atkinson said, lawyers for the whistleblower immediately insisted their client was not motivated by political considerations, but their cryptic comment fueled speculation about his identity. The careful statement did not rule out that the whistleblower worked with one of the candidates before they started running for president.

“First, our client has never worked for or advised a political candidate, campaign, or party,” said Andrew Bakaj and Mark Zaid. “Second, our client has spent their entire government career in apolitical, civil servant positions in
the Executive Branch.”

Glenn Carle, a former CIA officer who himself blew the whistle on George W. Bush administration efforts to collect intelligence on an American citizen, said the distinction was crucial. “The truth is that the whistleblower would have worked with Biden not in some partisan political sense but as a member of the government,” he said. “It is scurrilous to suppose there was a political motivation.”

He added that it was possible that the CIA officer briefed senators or representatives who were now running for president.