Political theater is rarely entertaining but Senator Rand Paul stole the show when he forced an early curtain call on senators pushing a phony whistleblower resolution. Paul introduced a bill that retroactively protects Edward Snowden and applies the Sixth Amendment to the president.
On October 30, Senate Democrats showed that they will support or reject legislation based on a single factor of whether or not it helps impeach President Donald Trump, even if it’s a symbolic gesture.
That’s why Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii were so perturbed when Paul blocked their move to reach unanimous consent to pass a resolution that purports to honor “the contributions of whistleblowers.”
“Not one of these people who fake outrage over this whistleblower and President Trump and the impeachment, not one of them will stand up for Edward Snowden,” Paul stated. “They would still put him in jail for life if they could.”
In response, Hirono didn’t dare name Snowden but instead called Paul’s bill “laughable” because it restored the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution to the president, who under current rules is being prevented from facing his accuser, an ex-CIA agent who worked for Vice President Joe Biden on Ukraine.
This whistleblower’s name, Eric Ciaramella, is known widely in Washington, D.C., and has been printed in RealClearInvestigations, but he is both closely guarded and highly praised by many in power who hypocritically turned their backs on Snowden or even favored the death penalty in his case.
Paul educated a reporter from The Hill on the legality of naming the whistleblower last week. The whistleblower is also a key witness to the alleged corruption of Biden, and his son Hunter, who received $50,000 a month from a Ukrainian energy firm under investigation by a Ukrainian prosecutor who Biden had removed in a quid pro quo arrangement.
It’s always a good time to remind the U.S. government and the American people of the injustice done to Snowden, the greatest whistleblower of our time, who revealed illegal mass surveillance conducted on virtually all Americans.
Tired and debunked shameful smears against Snowden erupted on Twitter after Paul invoked his name. Snowden isn’t a true whistleblower, they claim because he didn’t go through “proper channels.”
Forget that Snowden’s peers – other whistleblowers charged under the Espionage Act, like Thomas Drake, did go through proper channels and were still denied an opportunity to present their case to a jury. Snowden, as a government contractor, didn’t have access to even the same protections that people like Chelsea Manning or Daniel Hale had.
Paul’s brilliant move left the Democrats openly choosing style over substance. The Trump-Ukraine whistleblower, a Democrat himself, is held up as a hero while Snowden is left exiled from the country he served with honor, all because the political show must go on.
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