A conservative watchdog is suing the CIA and the Justice Department for the communications of a CIA analyst who is alleged to be the Ukraine whistleblower.
Judicial Watch said Thursday it had filed Freedom of Information Act lawsuits against the agency and the department for the communications of Eric Ciaramella.
The watchdog filed FOIA requests in November to the Justice Department seeking communications between Ciaramella and former FBI agent Peter Strzok, former FBI attorney Lisa Page, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and special counsel Robert Mueller’s office. It also filed a request with the CIA for Ciaramella’s emails between June 1, 2016, and Nov. 12, 2019.
Attorneys for the whistleblower, whose complaint prompted the impeachment investigation into President Trump, have neither confirmed nor denied whether Ciaramella is their client.
The whistleblower continues to work on issues relating to Russia and Ukraine and is driven to work by armed security officers when threats against him increase, according to the Washington Post.
Ciaramella, 33, was Ukraine director on the National Security Council at the end of the Obama administration and was the acting senior director for European and Russian affairs in the early months of the Trump administration. He is now a deputy national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia on the National Intelligence Council.
He worked closely with Vice President Joe Biden and attended a State Department banquet at Biden’s invitation in 2016.
Ciaramella was also cited in Mueller’s report in connection to a meeting between Trump and Russian officials in the Oval Office in May 2017, the day after James Comey was fired as FBI director.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said there is “significant public interest” in Ciaramella’s actions.
“CIA operative Ciaramella is documented to be involved in the Russia collusion investigation, and was a key CIA operative on Ukraine in both the Obama and Trump White Houses. Our lawsuits are designed to break through the unprecedented cover-up of his activities,” Fitton said in a statement.
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