House Republican Chris Stewart 'not at all' concerned about second whistleblower
Rep. Chris Stewart, a Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee, on Sunday brushed off reports that a second whistleblower has come forward regarding President Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine that are now at the center of a House impeachment inquiry.
Asked on "Fox News Sunday" if he was concerned by the emergence of another whistleblower, Stewart responded, "Actually, not at all."
"One of our concerns has always been there hasn't been firsthand knowledge of this," the Utah Republican said. "The first whistleblower, virtually everything that he accused was second- and third-hand knowledge."
"It does not matter. This person is going to come forward and say, 'Yep. The president had this phone call and, yep, that's the transcript,'" Stewart said, referring to a July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his push for Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. "I mean, why should I care at all what his perspective or his opinion or judgment of this transcript is? You and I can read it."
Trump's allies on Capitol Hill have criticized an initial whistleblower complaint made to the intelligence community's inspector general as hearsay, a criticism Stewart reiterated.
But an attorney for the initial whistleblower on Sunday told ABC News he is representing a second whistleblower who has first-hand knowledge of some of the original allegations.
Stewart also steered clear of the feud between Trump and one of his home-state senators, Mitt Romney.
Trump slammed Romney on Twitter over the weekend as "a fool" and "a pompous 'ass'", adding the hashtag "#IMPEACHMITTROMNEY" after the Republican senator criticized the president's calls for Ukraine and China to investigate Biden, one of his political rivals in the 2020 presidential race.
"Mitt Romney's a big boy. President Trump's a big boy. They can settle their differences. I'm not going to weigh in on that," Stewart said.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine