Whistleblower Lawyer Now Representing Second Whistleblower With ‘First-Hand’ Info

UNSPECIFIED - JULY 20: National security lawyer Mark Zaid is photographed at his home in the metro Washington, DC area, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016. The infamous hijacking case with D.B. Cooper, the subject of a History Channel documentary, which aired recently, has put the limelight on Robert Rackstraw, an alleged suspect with whom Zaid negotiated to turn himself in. (Photo by Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post)
National security lawyer Mark Zaid is photographed at his home in the metro Washington, DC area, on July 20, 2016. (Photo by Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
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Mark Zaid, the national security lawyer who is currently representing the whistleblower behind a bombshell complaint about President Donald Trump’s call with Ukraine, said on Sunday morning that he is now representing a second whistleblower.

ABC’s “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos first reported on the new development and said that the second whistleblower, a member of the intelligence community, has “first-hand” information on Trump’s Ukraine scandal outlined in the first whistleblower’s complaint.

According to Stephanopoulos, the second whistleblower has spoken with Intelligence Inspector General Michael Atkinson about the allegations.

Zaid confirmed the report shortly afterward.

“I can confirm this report of a second #whistleblower being represented by our legal team,” he tweeted. “They also made a protected disclosure under the law and cannot be retaliated against.”

He also confirmed that the second whistleblower does, in fact, have first hand knowledge of the situation.

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham brushed off the news.

“It doesn’t matter how many people decide to call themselves whistleblowers about the same telephone call—a call the President already made public—it doesn’t change the fact that he has done nothing wrong,” she said in a statement.

On Saturday, the New York Times reported on the existence of a second whistleblower who was considering coming forward with a formal complaint.

“The first so-called second hand information ‘Whistleblower’ got my phone conversation almost completely wrong, so now word is they are going to the bench and another ‘Whistleblower’ is coming in from the Deep State, also with second hand info,” Trump tweeted on Saturday night, falsely stating that the new whistleblower’s information is second-hand.

Trump and his allies have tried to undermine the first whistleblower’s credibility on the basis that he or she did only had “second-hand” knowledge. However, first-hand knowledge is not a requirement to file a whistleblower complaint.

Watch Stephanopoulos below:

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