Whistleblower Protection

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, we are involved in a very serious process to determine whether the President of the United States has committed high crimes and misdemeanors.

The Constitution provides for the removal of high officials who violate their oath of office, who violate the powers of their office, and who commit bribery or treason, or high crimes and misdemeanors.

In the course of that process, we have been involved with numerous people asking for the whistleblower to testify. I will not speak to the substance of the consideration that is ongoing with respect to the impeachment of the President of the United States, but I do want to speak pointedly to the calls from so many that the whistleblower be identified.

The whistleblower, of course, has no direct evidence to offer. What the whistleblower is is somebody who responded to ``if you see something, say something.''

We have witnesses to wrongdoing all over this country and all over the world, and our police departments have a line that is called an anonymous tip line so that somebody who sees something will say something. It is anonymous so that we do not intimidate those people or expose them to danger for coming forward to out criminal behavior.

The President of the United States has made an analogy to this information coming forward as the result of spying, treason, which, as we all know, according to the President, can subject someone to capital punishment.

Why do we have a whistleblower statute? We have a whistleblower statute, Mr. Speaker, because we want to encourage people, and we want to not expose them to danger or intimidation--including from the most powerful person on Earth, the President of the United States--or retaliation. Yet we continue to hear: Tell us who the whistleblower is. Let us throw the whistleblower into the lion's den.

In fact, of course, what we do know is the whistleblower, the information that was brought forward, A, led to the release of funds to the Ukrainians just shortly thereafter and, in addition, has led to substantive testimony corroborating the information that the whistleblower either saw or heard.

If you see something, say something.

It is irresponsible, it is wrong, and, in fact, in almost every jurisdiction, there are criminal penalties for threatening a witness, for impeding justice.

So, Mr. Speaker, when people say, ``Show me the whistleblower,'' what they are doing is not only trying to intimidate that whistleblower, they are trying to intimidate every other whistleblower who might deign to come forward because they saw something or heard something.

I would hope all of my colleagues would think to themselves: Why do we have a whistleblower statute?

I represent 62,000 Federal employees, and, very frankly, I want them to have the confidence to come forward if they see wrongdoing in the Federal Government, even if it is about the President of the United States, and even if the President of the United States wants to make an analogy to a capital offense--despicable--undermining the very essence of why the Congress of the United States enacted a whistleblower statute and the essence of why police departments all over the United States have anonymous tip lines and why almost every State has a statute which imposes a criminal penalty for the intimidation of witnesses.

We are a nation of laws, not of men. We are proud of that. But if we are to be a nation whose top leaders try to intimidate those who would come forward if they see something or hear something and they say something, then we will be a lesser nation, less focused on a nation of laws.

Mr. Speaker, I would hope that Members on both sides of the aisle, political pundits, commentators, and, yes, the President of the United States would cease and desist from trying to intimidate this whistleblower and all of those who may be whistleblowers.

The intent of that legislation, the intent of those protections, the intent of witness protection statutes and intimidation of witnesses is so that we will get at the truth and that our government of the people, by the people, and for the people will be more honest, will be more safe, will be more just.

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