Statewide Iowa — (RI) — Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley is treading carefully around reports a whistleblower in the U.S. intelligence community is alleging serious wrongdoing by President Donald Trump.
Grassley, who calls himself a “longtime champion of whistleblowers,” won’t comment directly on reports President Trump allegedly ordered his staff to withhold 400-million dollars in aid from Ukraine while pressuring that nation’s president to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
Grassley issued a news release saying, “rampant speculation by politicians and the media is not helpful. That’s how the false Russia collusion narrative took root. Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past. Going forward, it’s important to respect the law and the whistleblower’s confidentiality while we gather the facts of the case.”
Grassley is founder of the bipartisan Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus and he says whistleblower laws are “critical to providing safe outlets to share information so governmental officials can be held responsible without harming national security.”
Grassley says the nation does not need another Edward Snowden situation, “where information is released publicly and our national security is harmed.” He adds, “transparency is always the best policy so long as we don’t endanger national security.”
