Co-workers of alleged whistleblower say they heard him plotting Trump's removal in 2017: Report

Former colleagues of alleged impeachment whistleblower Eric Ciaramella say they heard him discussing ways to get President Donald Trump out of office within days of his inauguration in January 2017, according to RealClearInvestigations.

The sources, who spoke to RCI under the condition of anonymity, said Ciaramella talked about ousting Trump with Sean Misko. Ciaramella and Misko were holdovers from the Obama Administration's national security team.

According to the sources, Ciaramella and Misko, who are reportedly friends, were upset about Trump's policy changes from the Obama administration.

"They were popping off about how they were going to remove Trump from office. No joke," one ex-colleague told RCI.

From RCI:

And both expressed anger over Trump's new "America First" foreign policy, a sea change from President Obama's approach to international affairs.

"Just days after he was sworn in they were already talking about trying to get rid of him," said a White House colleague who overheard their conversation.

"They weren't just bent on subverting his agenda," the former official added. "They were plotting to actually have him removed from office."

Misko joined House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff's staff last July, one day after President Trump's infamous call with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky. Misko allegedly advised the whistleblower during the process of filing the complaint and helped run the impeachment investigation.

The whistleblower complaint was filed in August and made public in September, alleging that the whistleblower "received information from multiple U.S. Government officials that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election. This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President's main domestic political rivals."

The whistleblower failed to disclose his communications with Schiff's staff when interviewed by the Intelligence Community Inspector General, and Schiff himself was misleading about what communication he or his staff may have had with the whistleblower.

Although Ciaramella is widely believed to be the whistleblower, the whistleblower's identity has not been officially revealed. He is currently identified only as an unnamed CIA analyst.

Some Republicans want the whistleblower to be called as a witness during the impeachment trial, but Democrats have fiercely refused any attempts to publicly disclose his identity.