GOP/IMPEACHMENT/SENATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WHISTLEBLOWER: “As President Donald Trump and his allies attack the whistleblower who kicked off the House’s impeachment inquiry, the unidentified person gained a powerful ally on Tuesday [10-1-19]: Chuck Grassley. The most senior GOP senator has fashioned a career on protecting whistleblowers during presidencies of both parties. And in the middle of one of the most tempestuous political storms in two decades, the seventh-term Iowan is sticking to his position even if it’s at odds with the president himself. In a Tuesday statement, Grassley moved to stave off attacks and the unmasking of the federal whistleblower who first divulged Trump’s call with Ukraine’s president. Trump and many of his allies in Congress and outside have been working to chip away at the whisleblower’s credibility, calling his complaint ‘hearsay’ and playing down its validity. Grassley is having none of it. He said Tuesday that the fact that the individual’s knowledge of Trump’s phone call and the White House restricting records came secondhand should not invalidate his reporting.”
–Burgess Everett, “Grassley breaks with Trump over protecting whistleblower,” Politico, October 1, 2019 6:02 pm