The Federalist BUSTS the Whistleblower’s Lawyer: He Interned For Chuck Schumer in 2001

 

The Federalist dropped a bombshell late Tuesday ahead of the Trump administration’s anticipated release of a transcript of President Donald Trump’s call with Ukraine’s president, during which Trump reportedly pressured the foreign leader to investigate 2020 rival Joe Biden.

The call came to light amidst a formal whistleblower complaint — that reportedly involves multiple instances of similar behavior by Trump — that the intelligence community inspector general deemed “credible” and “urgent.”

The acting Director of National Intelligence has so far refused to hand over the complaint to Congress (as required by law), but the White House is reportedly preparing the release of the complaint by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, the whistleblower has assembled a legal team and reached out to the House and Senate intelligence committees about the possibility of providing testimony. Trump has already attacked the whistleblower as “partisan,” though he also admitted he does not know the whistleblower’s identity.

Enter the Federalist, a journal devoted to turning a blind eye to corruption (since 2016). Ben Domenech’s website dug up some dirt on the lawyers representing the whistleblower, and came up with this:

Andrew Bakaj, now a managing partner at the Compass Rose Legal Group, interned for Schumer in the spring of 2001 and for Clinton in the fall of the same year, according to Bakaj’s LinkedIn page. More recently, Bakaj has worked as an official in the CIA and Pentagon and specializes in whistleblower and security clearances in his legal practice.

You read that correctly. Bakaj, a legal expert in whistleblower and security clearances, hired to be a part of the whistleblower’s team, INTERNED for Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton EIGHTEEN YEARS ago.

The Federalist also describes Bakaj as a “Democratic operative,” which is odd because his LinkedIn says he is a managing partner at a national security law firm.

Nevertheless, the piece scored with the intended audience. President Trump himself proudly touted the internship bombshell on his Twitter account:

And as the Twitter traffic no doubt poured in, Federalist writer Tristan Justice took a victory lap:

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Aidan McLaughlin is the Editor in Chief of Mediaite. Send tips via email: aidan@mediaite.com. Ask for Signal. Follow him on Twitter: @aidnmclaughlin