The former CIA officer Representative Will Hurd (R-TX), who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, gave the media an example of bipartisanship lumping along unevenly. He had negative words for the Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) on how he has been handling the impeachment inquiry. At the same time, he defended the whistleblower. Why the discrepancy?
FoxNewsSunday tweeted that Hurd “to react to the president,” and everyone “should be protecting the identity of the whistleblower:”
‘House Intel member Rep Will Hurd (R-TX) joined FOX News Sunday exclusively to react to President Trump’s recent comments on the whistleblower. Rep Hurd says: “I think we should be protecting the identity of the whistleblower” #FNS #FoxNews #Politics’
Hurd spoke to Fox’s Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday about the president’s call for outing the whistleblower, according to POLITICO:
‘I think we should be protecting the identity of the whistleblower… because how we treat this whistleblower will impact whistleblowers in the future. Having this whistleblower law on the books is important, it’s an important check and balance.’
In addition, Hurd defended the Republicans’ request for the Intelligence chair to “testify himself in the inquiry:”
“[A]bout what was his engagement with the whistleblower before the whistleblower’s allegations were transmitted. (Schiff) has misled the American public.’
Hurd also supported the Republicans’ request that former vice president Joe Biden’s son Hunter testify. The president talked to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July, telling the Ukrainian that he needed to come up with some dirt on the Bidens:
‘I think we should just turn over every rock and pursue every lead. I would like to hear from Hunter Biden – I would love to hear from the other Americans who served on the board of Burisma (Ukrainian energy company).’
Hunter Biden served on the board of the Ukrainian energy company at the same time as his father was vice president. An investigation into the matter ended with both men being exonerated.
Hurd also wanted to look into the president’s TV attorney Rudy Giuliani and company:
‘We also need to hear and understand the corruption. We know corruption in the Ukraine is an issue.’
Wallace dug more deeply into “whether withholding approval aid to Ukraine to pressure Kyiv to investigate a conspiracy theory.” It claimed that Ukraine was the one who stole Hillary Clinton’s emails, not the Russians. It appeared that Donald Trump was looking for a way to free the Russians from interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said that the president had pressured Zelensky to dig up dirt on the Bidens in return for direly-needed military aid. Unfortunately, he said this on live television. Later he unsuccessfully attempted to walk it back.
Hurt conceded it was “an understanding based on debunked information.” However he added, the legality was unclear:
‘I think if you’re trying to get info on a political rival to use in a political campaign, [that] is not something a president or any official should be doing.’
Then, the representative added that he would wait to decide “whether impeachment is the right tool or not.”
Twitter world went crazy. Check out these favorites below:
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
