The FBI has launched an investigation into a string of death threats lobbed against the Ukraine scandal whistleblower _ including one disturbing email that claims the anonymous informant "should be shot," according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
The source told the New York Daily News on Wednesday that the threats have been sent to the legal team representing the still-anonymous CIA whistleblower, who first rang the alarm on President Donald Trump's infamous July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The whistleblower's complaint sparked the House impeachment inquiry.
Among the numerous threats, the ones alluding to executions and shootings have been the most alarming, according to the source.
"The whistleblower should be shot," one email sent to the legal team says, according to the person.
"In Putin's country, they would execute this person," says another menacing message.
The FBI declined to comment, but the source said the bureau took the threats "incredibly seriously." Agents have been in touch with the legal team as part of the investigation.
Mark Zaid, one of the attorneys on the legal team, said the threats were "reckless and irresponsible."
With the impeachment inquiry heating up, Trump has repeatedly castigated the whistleblower over social media, demanding that the person's identity be revealed, even though federal law allows for such intelligence community sources to remain anonymous.
"Sounding more and more like the so-called Whistleblower isn't a Whistleblower at all," Trump tweeted last month before ripping the informant as a "partisan operative" and "a spy."
Despite Trump's claims, several impeachment inquiry witnesses have corroborated the whistleblower's allegation that the president tried to strong-arm Ukrainian officials into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and other Democrats while using nearly $400 million in U.S. security aid as leverage in an apparent quid pro quo.
For that reason, the source close to the legal team said the whistleblower likely will not testify in the inquiry.
"It's absolutely unnecessary," the source said. "There's nothing that they can offer to the committees that's not already in their possession."
