Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts refused to read out a question Senator Rand Paul submitted for the question and answer portion of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial…and the Kentucky senator wasn’t please.

On Thursday, a Senate page presented Paul’s written question to Roberts, who took a moment to read it.

“The presiding officer declines to read the question as submitted,” Roberts declared.

Shortly after that happened, Paul sent out several tweets confirming the nature of his question while insisting it “is not about a ‘whistleblower’ as I have no independent information on his identity. My question is about the actions of known Obama partisans within the NSC and House staff and how they are reported to have conspired before impeachment proceedings had even begun.”

My question today is about whether or not individuals who were holdovers from the Obama National Security Council and Democrat partisans conspired with Schiff staffers to plot impeaching the President before there were formal House impeachment proceedings.

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 30, 2020

My question is not about a “whistleblower” as I have no independent information on his identity. My question is about the actions of known Obama partisans within the NSC and House staff and how they are reported to have conspired before impeachment proceedings had even begun.

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 30, 2020

After the ruling, Paul showed no reaction. He stood up, gathered his papers and stormed out of the Senate chamber to address reporters.

Trump’s defenders have pegged a CIA analyst as the whistleblower ever since an unconfirmed report identified him as such. The whistleblower has been a frequent target among Trump backers who demand he testify about their alleged bias against Trump and the process by which their concerns were raised.

Reports previously indicated that Roberts would vet the questions being read to the Senate and would reject any that identify the whistleblower. Politico noted that Paul wanted to challenge Roberts on this even though his questions would “violate Roberts’s edict.”

Watch the moment when Rand Paul tries to out the whistleblower by asking a question with his or her name in it and Chief Justice Roberts "declines to read the question as submitted." pic.twitter.com/sJwljoK6OO

— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) January 30, 2020