Trump's fixation with discrediting whistleblower demolished by ex-FBI official

President Donald Trump has sought to shield himself from political harm in the impeachment investigation by attacking the anonymous whistleblower whose complaint kicked off the congressional probe — at some points even suggesting the whistleblower should be outed, contrary to federal law.

On Monday's edition of CNN's "OutFront," Greg Brower, former FBI Assistant Director of the Office of Congressional Affairs, pointed out how pointless Trump's attempts to demonize the whistleblower are.

"I would submit that the whistleblower, at this point, is entirely irrelevant," said Brower. "This would be like — if I could draw an analogy — if I had a neighbor who I knew to be a convicted felon, and yet I witnessed that this neighbor had stored in his garage a stockpile of firearms, and I called the police and gave an anonymous tip about that fact, and then the police came out and investigated and found that this convicted felon did in fact have a stockpile of firearms."

"The fact that I was the initial tipster would be completely irrelevant because the police, upon their investigation, did find this convicted felon in possession of the firearms," said Brower. "It's no different here. Because what the whistleblower reported has essentially been corroborated in every meaningful way, who he is and what he said initially and how he said it is irrelevant."

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