During the Senate impeachment trial, Sen. Rand Paul submitted a question card that named House Intelligence staffer Sean Misko and Eric Ciaramella. The New York Post, January 30, 2020, quoted the question: whether Schiff was aware that Misko “has a close relationship with Eric Ciaramella when at the National Security Council together,” and how he responded to reports that the two “may have worked together to plot impeaching the president before there were formal House impeachment proceedings.” Chief Justice John Roberts, presiding, declined to read the question as submitted. Paul later said the card “makes no reference to anybody who may or may not be a whistleblower.” The Federalist, February 4, 2020, ran Paul’s own recap of the blocked question (the Federalist’s spelling of the surname as “Shawn” is the outlet’s; the staffer’s name in payroll and the House report is Sean).
Separately, the Washington Examiner reported that Sen. Ron Johnson asked why Schiff hired Misko the day after the July 25 call and what role he played. Schiff answered, as the Examiner quoted him, that he would “not dignify those smears on my staff by giving them” an answer, and that he would not share information that “could or could not lead to the identification of the whistleblower.” Those are Schiff’s words. They are not a confirmation of the RCI allegation and not a waiver of the HPSCI denial issued the next year.
Sperry, in a January 31, 2020, RCI notebook, reported the same blocked Paul question. A declined question card is a fact of the trial record as reported. It is not a finding that the underlying “plot” claim is true. Ciaramella remains identified in that reporting as the alleged whistleblower, not as an officially named complainant on this page.