Donald Trump Jr. Friday morning rejected complaints that he revealed the name of the whistleblower whose report spurred the impeachment inquiry against his father, telling Newsmax TV that he had merely retweeted a news story that had been released for some time.
"Do I lose my First Amendment Rights because I'm the son of the president?" Trump Jr. told Salcedo during a call-in to Newsmax TV's Chris Salcedo Show, telling Salcedo that the story he retweeted from Breitbart News had been out for several days, and had also appeared in several other conservative publications.
He also ridiculed the idea that he could have "outed a CIA operative" when he included the person's name in the retweet.
"Fear of his life, yeah, I'm sure," said Trump Jr. "I didn't out anyone...they're upset because now that this name is in the public domain."
The whistleblower was "crying" along with others from President Barack Obama's administration when Trump took the White House, said Trump Jr., and he was "tied to (Joe) Biden...he was Bidens' special guest at a state dinner."
The president's son also discussed his fiery appearance on "The View," where he was called out by Meghan McCain and other panelists Thursday.
"I was going to be on for three segments," said Trump Jr. "I think they got a taste of their own medicine."
He added that McCain, the daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, who asked him why he and his family hurts others, particularly Gold Star families, has no room to talk about others, as he could "talk about all the wars he (McCain) got us into."
"If people want to talk about Gold Star families, those wars created more of them than you could possibly imagine," said Trump Jr., who had gone onto The View to promote his new book, "Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us." https://www.amazon.com/Triggered-Left-Thrives-Wants-Silence/dp/154608603X
"I think I made my points," he said. "I didn't bring my own audience. We got 10 tickets out of like 150."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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