It is clear that revealing the identity of the whistleblower involved in President Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry would do no good. 

Think about it. What would revealing the whistleblowers identity accomplish? The whistleblower would receive extreme backlash from the president and his supporters and the talk surrounding the impeachment procedures would shift from the actual substance of the president’s wrongdoings to being about the person who pointed them out. 

All people who commit crimes, including the President of the United States, should be held accountable for their actions. It should not matter who found out he may have committed the crime.

The point of the president’s impeachment inquiry is to get to the bottom of the accusations against him. It is not to find out who made those allegations. 

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Representative Adam Schiff pointed out during proceedings that, “if the witness has a good faith belief that this may reveal the identity of the whistleblower, that is not the purpose of what we are here for.”

The whistleblower, whoever they may be, has a right to remain anonymous under the law. There are a multitude of laws that protect whistleblowers from repercussions making claims against about their employers or officials, if they have significant reason to believe that a wrongdoing occurred. 

The law that is concerning most in this situation is the Inspector General Act of 1978, which basically prohibits officials from retaliating against federal employees who disclose information to the inspector general in good faith. Unfortunately, this law only bars the Inspector General, Michael Atkinson, from being able to identify the whistleblower. If the president or any of his allies find out who the whistleblower is there is no law that says they cannot reveal their identity to the public. 

We already know that the whistleblower is likely someone who worked with the CIA, and this alone I believe is enough. This should not be a partisan issue. People on both sides of the spectrum, whether they support Trump or not, can see that naming the whistleblower would make the inquiry no different, and is therefore unnecessary.  

In fact, Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa made a statement saying, “We should always work to respect whistleblowers’ requests for confidentiality.” 

The whistleblower themself is likely not motivated by a partisan agenda. If Trump is impeached and removed from office, Vice President Mike Pence would then become president and congress would still have a Republican majority. It seems that the whistleblower was motivated because they believe people should be held accountable for their illegal actions, even if they are the president. 

In a political environment full of heated partisan debate, revealing the identity of the whistleblower is nothing more than a political tactic to shift the discussion surrounding impeachment away from Trump as he begins his 2020 re-election campaign. However, it also poses real threats to the whistleblower themself and everything that can be done to protect their identity should be done until the time comes, if ever, when they decide to reveal themselves.