Forbes Topline: The New York Times reported Thursday that a male Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer is the whistleblower behind an explosive report alleging that President Trump sought help from a foreign leader in order to influence the U.S. 2020 election.
- The office was slated to work in the White House but has since returned to the CIA.
- The officer’s lawyers said that publishing information about him would be dangerous. “The whistle-blower has a right to anonymity,” said the agent’s lead lawyer, Andrew Bakaj.
- Times executive editor Dean Baquet defended the paper’s decision: “The role of the whistle-blower, including his credibility and his place in the government, is essential to understanding one of the most important issues facing the country—whether the president of the United States abused power and whether the White House covered it up.”
- A spokesperson for Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, said that protecting the whistleblower’s identity is the highest priority…