Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich Friday cast doubts on reports that a whistleblower heard President Donald Trump had spoken inappropriately with a world leader, saying that it is the president's right by law to share information.
"I know this is very hard for liberals to understand, but Donald Trump is the president," Gingrich said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "He is ultimately the person who can decide what is worth sharing. He has got the head of the CIA, the director of national intelligence, he's got the secretary of state, lots of people can say to him, gee that wasn't very wise. But legally, clearly, he has the right to do it."
Gingrich pointed out that there are many "self-important" bureaucrats who are hidden away in their jobs, and they don't understand that Trump is not bound by the same rules they are.
"I think for some person deep in the bureaucracy to decide they are going to render judgment on the commander in chief is an absurdity," said Gingrich. "It tells you how sick the system is."
According to The Washington Post, the whistleblower complaint, made by an intelligence official, centers on Ukraine. The newspaper reports that the complaint involves communications with a foreign leader and a promise Trump had allegedly made.
Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera, also participating in the Fox interview, disparaged the whistleblower as a "punk."
"This is annoying," he said. "This is a punk, a punk who was snitching out the president's phone calls to a foreign leader. Imagine the president, our leader is talking to the leader of another country. You got all these deep state people listening in. Every chance they get, they run to (Rep.) Adam Schiff, say hey, we have an urgent serious leak."