A lawyer for the whistleblower who filed the complaint that sparked the House's impeachment probe told CBS News he has offered to have Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee submit questions to the whistleblower.

The offer would allow Republicans to ask questions of the whistleblower directly, without going through the Democratic-controlled committee.

Attorney Mark Zaid told CBS News he contacted ranking member Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) on Saturday to tell him his client would answer Republicans' written questions under oath and penalty of perjury if lawmakers submitted them to the whistleblower's legal team, according to CBS.

The whistleblower, whose identity remains undisclosed, sparked the inquiry by reporting on a phone conversation between President Donald Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine that involved a request for Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was asked about the offer on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday but said he was not aware of it.

"I have never received that offer, and I'm the lead Republican in the House," McCarthy said.

McCarthy said Nunes had not told him about the offer prior to Sunday, adding "let's see how they submitted."

McCarthy was pressed by moderator Margaret Brennan whether he would turn down the opportunity to submit questions in writing to the whistleblower.

"No, as an American and that everybody should know and have accountability, you're talking about the removal of the presidency. We watched [House Intelligence Chairman] Adam Schiff lie to the American public that he did not know who the whistleblower was," McCarthy said of his fellow California congressman.

"So, you are open to it?" Brennan asked.

"Let me be very clear, Margaret: What I'm open to, when you're talking about the removal of the president of the United States, undoing democracy, undoing what the American public had voted for, I think that individual should come before the committee," McCarthy responded.

"He could come down to the basement. But he needs to answer the questions. We need an openness that people understand this," he added.