A bombshell new report from Fox News’ Gregg Re reveals that a second intelligence community whistleblower has formally alleged that the now-infamous initial intelligence community whistleblower may have violated federal law. Specifically, according to Re, the second whistleblower, in the complaint filed with the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG), “may have violated federal law by indirectly soliciting more than a quarter-million dollars from mostly anonymous sources via a GoFundMe page.”
Legally, the second whistleblower complaint alleges that these indirect solicitations through a GoFundMe page constitute “gifts” in violation of both regulatory and statutory law. The complaint cites both 5 CFR 2635.203 and 18 U.S.C. §§ 208-209 as possible areas of violation. Fox News has uploaded the full complaint, which was provided courtesy of the second whistleblower’s law firm, Tully Rinckey PLLC. The law firm has not revealed the identity of the new whistleblower, though Fox News reports that “the individual is the holder of a top-secret SCI security clearance and has served in government.”
“The most concerning allegation that my client believes is that the federal employee you [ICIG] are protecting and their attorneys apparently have strategically weaponized their alleged whistleblowing activities into a very lucrative money-making enterprise using a charity incorporated under a different name than the trade name it is using for fund-raising purposes, which would appear to my client to be a clear abuse of the federal employee’s authority and access to classified information,” the Tully Rinckey PLLC-authored document reads. “We are requesting you investigate whether [criminal statutes or regulations have] been violated by the federal employee you are protecting when they reportedly requested an investigation into a matter that they had no direct personal knowledge of, and on account of which they were able to obtain sizeable gifts from unknown persons because of their official duty,” it continues.
The complaint is dated as of four days ago.
Tully Rinckey PLLC’s managing partner Anthony Gallo told Fox News: “I have not seen anything on this scale. It’s not about politics for my client — it’s whistleblower-on-whistleblower, and [my client’s] only interest is to see the government ethics rules are being complied with government-wide.”
The initial whistleblower’s attorney, Andrew Bakaj, responded in a statement also provided to Fox News: “Any fundraising efforts for the Intelligence Community Whistleblower have complied with federal laws, including ethics requirements. Should any governmental agency properly inquire we would, of course, cooperate.”
As noted by RedState, the Bakaj and Mark Zaid, each of the Compass Rose Law firm, have been working with a non-profit called Whistleblower Aid. The duo had initiated the GoFundMe page fundraising campaign in conjunction with Whistleblower Aid.
Per Fox News, the Office of Government Ethics actually took the step earlier this year of explaining to all federal government employees that they “may not accept any gift given because of the employee’s official position” — or, in other words, the gift is legally unacceptable if the gift would “not have been given had the employee not held the status, authority, or duties associated with the employee’s federal position.”