The White House learned that a CIA officer had lodged allegations against President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine even as the officer’s whistleblower complaint was moving through a process meant to protect him against reprisals, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

The officer first shared information about potential abuse of power and a White House cover-up with the CIA’s top lawyer through an anonymous process, some of the people said. The lawyer shared the officer’s concerns with White House and justice department officials, following policy. Around the same time, the officer separately filed the whistleblower complaint.

The revelations provide new insight about how the officer’s allegations moved through the bureaucracy of government. The Trump administration’s handling of the accusations is certain to be scrutinised, particularly by lawmakers weighing the impeachment of the President.

Lawyers for the whistleblower refused to confirm that he worked for the CIA and said that publishing information about him was dangerous.

“Any decision to report any perceived identifying information of the whistleblower is deeply concerning and reckless, as it can place the individual in harm’s way,” said Andrew Bakaj, his lead counsel. “The whistleblower has a right to anonymity.”

Neither the White House nor the National Security Council, its foreign policy arm, responded to requests for comment. The CIA referred questions to the inspector general for the intelligence agencies, Michael Atkinson, who declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for the acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, said that protecting the whistleblower was his office’s highest priority. “We must protect those who demonstrate the courage to report alleged wrongdoing, whether on the battlefield or in the workplace,” Maguire said at a hearing on Thursday, adding that he did not know the whistle-blower’s identity.

Dean Baquet, the executive editor of The New York Times, said The Times was right to publish information about the whistleblower. “The President and some of his supporters have attacked the credibility of the whistleblower, who has presented information that has touched off a landmark impeachment proceeding,” Baquet said. “The President himself has called the whistle-blower’s account a ‘political hack job’.”

Baquet added, “We decided to publish limited information about the whistleblower — including the fact that he works for a non-political agency and that his complaint is based on an intimate knowledge and understanding of the White House — because we wanted to provide information to readers that allows them to make their own judgments about whether or not he is credible. We also understand that the White House already knew he was a CIA officer.”

During his time at the White House, the whistle-blower became deeply unnerved about how he believed Trump was broadly seeking to pressure the Ukrainian government to conduct investigations that could benefit him politically.

“Namely, he sought to pressure the Ukrainian leader to take actions to help the president’s 2020 re-election bid,” said the complaint, which was released on Thursday.

During a July 25 call, Trump asked President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to investigate unsubstantiated allegations of corruption against former Vice-President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his younger son and other matters that the President saw as potentially beneficial to him politically, according to a reconstructed transcript released by the White House.

The whistleblower was detailed to work at the White House at one point, according to three people familiar with his identity, and has since returned to the CIA.