As the Ukraine charade enters its third week, a second “whistleblower” has come forward according to Mark Zaid, attorney for the first “whistleblower.” This second whistleblower, also an intelligence official, claims to have first-hand information corroborating some of the initial complaint. It is likely, since this new whistleblower is not offering a new complaint but is rather supporting the original complaint, that this second individual is seeking protection to prevent himself from being exposed as a source for the first whistleblower. Indeed, Zaid seemingly confirmed this, stating that the second individual “made a protection disclosure under the law and cannot be retaliated against.” Furthermore, Zaid claimed that “there are definitely multiple whistleblowers,” so it’s looking like everyone behind this complaint is seeking cover.

However, there may be another reason why more “whistleblowers” are now suddenly coming forward, claiming to have first-hand knowledge that allegedly corroborates the original complaint. The Democrats need the whistleblower complaint to be shored up by first-hand testimony.

Last Friday, Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) Michael Atkinson testified before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, but he continued to stonewall lawmakers’ efforts to get answers for why the whistleblower form was secretly changed to eliminate a first-hand knowledge requirement — a change apparently made in September following the whistleblower’s complaint. As The Federalist reports, “Despite having a full week to come up with explanations for his office’s decisions to secretly change its forms to eliminate the requirement for first-hand evidence and to backdate those changes to August, Atkinson refused to provide any explanation to lawmakers baffled by his behavior.”

Atkinson’s refusal to answer only serves to bolster suspicions that Democrats, led by Rep. Adam Schiff, are behind this whole whistleblower fiasco. Schiff has been exposed as a liar by none other than The Washington Post over his claim that he had no advanced knowledge of the whistleblower’s complaint, when in fact he at the very least knew about the complaint before it was even submitted to the ICIG. Furthermore, Atkinson confirmed the whistleblower was a politically motivated Democrat.

Finally, as this Democrat-orchestrated scandal further unfolds, several text messages between Trump administration officials have been selectively released to the media in an effort to prop up the anti-Trump narrative about a quid pro quo. Never mind the fact that the former American envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, gave testimony regarding the texts before the House last Thursday and repudiated the Democrats’ impeachment narrative. As Jim Jordan, ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, stated: “Not one thing [Volker] said comports with any of the Democrats’ impeachment narrative. Not one thing.” Rep. Dan Crenshaw also observed, “One key fact about [Thursday’s] closed-door witness interview [with Volker] — Republicans are the ones calling for public release of the deposition transcript. That should tell you something. Democrats prefer narratives, not facts.”

(Updated.)