Trump Unloads on Whistleblower

It's another day of non-stop developments on the impeachment front—including the release of the whistleblower report and the testimony of the director of national intelligence—and President Trump made some related headlines of his own. Speaking at a breakfast Thursday morning, the president likened the still-unidentified person who filed the whistleblower complaint to a spy who committed treason, reports the Los Angeles Times. The newspaper obtained a recording of Trump's remarks at the Intercontinental Hotel in New York. Highlights and related developments, including a report that the whistleblower is a CIA officer.

• Tough words: Trump said the person who filed the complaint is "almost a spy," as is anyone who gave him details about the phone call. “I want to know who’s the person, who’s the person who gave the whistleblower the information?" Trump said. "Because that’s close to a spy. You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now.”
• Other comments: Trump lashed out at the whistleblower in particular because he did not directly hear the famous July phone call between Trump and Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky; he called reporters "scum;" he insulted Joe Biden's intelligence and reiterated that it's Biden who should be the focus of an investigation; and he accused Democratic senators including Chris Murphy of Connecticut of having "strong-armed" Zelensky on a visit there.

• CIA official? The New York Times reports that the whistleblower is a CIA officer who worked at the White House but has since ended that assignment. The newspaper does not identify the officer by name, and his attorneys would not confirm. The complaint made public on Thursday suggests he is "an analyst by training" and "steeped in details of American foreign policy toward Europe" with a particular expertise in Ukraine politics, per the Times.
• Giuliani: Asked about the whistleblower's allegation that senior White House officials were so alarmed about the phone call they tried to "lock down" its contents, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani tells CNN he has "no knowledge of any of that crap." He specifically refuted the allegation that two State Department officials spoke to him to "contain the damage" after Trump's phone call. At Vanity Fair, an analysis by Bess Levin poses the question, "Will Trump Throw Rudy Giuliani Under The Ukraine Bus?"
• Pelosi: The House speaker says it's clear what the newly released whistleblower report reveals: "This is a cover-up," Nancy Pelosi told reporters, reports Politico. Then she repeated, "This is a cover-up." Earlier, Trump accused Pelosi of being "hijacked by the radical left."
• Takeaways: A Washington Post analysis has takeaways from the whistleblower report, and Pelosi would agree with No. 1: "The White House allegedly tried to bury the Trump-Zelensky call."

(More Trump impeachment stories.)