Today, Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman will testify before the House impeachment investigators and members of Congress. He was one of the national security experts on the call when Donald Trump committed impeachable offenses by asking the Ukrainian president to investigate the Bidens. From the New York Times:
A White House national security official who is a decorated Iraq war veteran plans to tell House impeachment investigators on Tuesday that he heard President Trump appeal to Ukraine’s president to investigate one of his leading political rivals, a request the aide considered so damaging to American interests that he reported it to a superior.
Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman of the Army, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, twice registered internal objections about how Mr. Trump and his inner circle were treating Ukraine, out of what he called a “sense of duty,” he plans to tell the inquiry, according to a draft of his opening statement obtained by The New York Times.
He will be the first White House official to testify who listened in on the July 25 telephone call between Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine that is at the center of the impeachment inquiry, in which Mr. Trump asked Mr. Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
“I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. government’s support of Ukraine,” Colonel Vindman said in his statement. “I realized that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the Bidens and Burisma it would likely be interpreted as a partisan play which would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing the bipartisan support it has thus far maintained.”
You can read more of Vindman’s statement at the NYT – he has first-hand knowledge of the call, and first-hand knowledge of the quid pro quo, meaning that as the Ukrainian expert, he saw Trump withhold military aid to Ukraine until Zelensky agreed to the Biden investigation. Vindman is also a decorated Iraq War hero, recipient of a Purple Heart, and he was born in Ukraine but raised in America, and he’s an American citizen. His parents came to America because they were fleeing the last gasp of the Soviet bloc. So… guess what? Republicans are smearing this decorated war hero as some kind of Ukrainian spy or something.
Sean Duffy on CNN on Army Lt. Col. Vindman: "It seems very clear that he is incredibly concerned about Ukrainian defense. I don't know that he's concerned about American policy … we all have an affinity to our homeland where we came from … he has an affinity for the Ukraine." pic.twitter.com/dlsYlTnCwR
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 29, 2019
So, that’s a sitting Congressman (Sean Duffy) trying to smear a decorated active-duty soldier because the soldier… witnessed crimes being committed and spoke up about those crimes and is now testifying about those crimes. Fox News has been all up on the Smear Vindman campaign too, so you know it’s a “talking point.” There is no bottom.
Brian Kilmeade on Army Lt. Col. Vindman: "We also know he was born in the Soviet Union, emigrated with his family. Young. He tends to feel simpatico with the Ukraine." pic.twitter.com/mfjg9NUXSd
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 29, 2019
Tired: smearing native-born, retired Purple Heart winners of both parties.
Wired: smearing immigrant Gold Star families.
Inspired: smearing immigrant Purple Heart winners on active duty. https://t.co/Zt8mBHvjPh
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) October 29, 2019
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Wasn’t Duffy quitting Washington completely because he and his wife are expecting a disabled child?
These people have no shame. They did this to John Kerry and Max Cleland while they serve Putin.
Yeah, Duffy isn’t a sitting member of Congress. He quit. His last day was the end of September. He was a representative from Wisconsin and couldn’t be bothered to finish his 2-year term in office. He didn’t even serve half of his term this time. He says he quit to be with his family, but he didn’t. He wanted to make more money. CNN should be ashamed for hiring this asshat.
Sean Duffy for those 1990s MTV viewers was on the reality show Real World Boston, and his wife and fellow rightwinger Rachel Campos Duffy was on Real World San Francisco. They met through one of those MTV Real World/Road Rules challenge shows in the 90s.
She recently had their 9th child at the age of 47, the child has Down syndrome and heart problems, that was the stated reason for him stepping down from Congress. But thanks CNN for giving him a big $$$$$ TV platform job and I am sure he will be running for Governor of Wisconsin, US Senate or President/VP some day in the fevered visions of the GOP.
Wow. As Chris rock said, mediocre white men repeatedly fail up. It shouldn’t astound me and yet it does.
OMG they were BOTH on Real World!? That’s hilarious. And so so trashy hahaha.
They make Puck look sane in comparison.
Hmmm I’m surprised he married her since she’s a minority and GOPers like to lock them all up.
I was just going to ask if he was on Real World or Road Rules! Didn’t he get arrested for abusing his wife? Jesus, what is this reality that we live in, seriously. What is this?!?
No words. God bless the crowd at the National’s game the other night. That’s all.
AMEN! A wonderful, welcomed surprise in what is otherwise the Dump Sh!t Show, broadcasting daily 24/7.
Yep, keep pissing off the military, Repubs. That’s a great strategy.
It won’t affect his supporters. They’re all brainwashed cultists. If Trump hates someone, they do too. McCain, the Khan family…MAGAts have no principles when it comes to supporting Trump. The Republicans know that, so they follow Trump’s talking points.
These same maggot-infested MAGAts are cheering on #MoscowMitch as he and his cohorts are starting to strip their Medicare/cal, Soc. Sec., and healthcare!! It’s like they think the republiTHUGS are going to do it to EVERYONE BUT THEM!!
It truly boggles the mind, this blind loyalty to the boot that kicks them over and over.
Yeah, republicans don’t REALLY support “the troops” – they support the conservative, racist agenda in America. The concept of “the troops” is just a convenient poster child, a way to criticize liberals who don’t support “the troops” *enough.* But when the interests of “the troops” conflict with the conservative, racist agenda of the republican party, we see how easily “the troops” are discarded and vilified. In addition to “the troops,” republicans also like to equate their conservative, racist agendas with “the flag” and “the bible” — so if you don’t support their conservative, racist agendas, then you must hate “the flag” and “the bible.” It may sound ridiculous, but this brainwashing seems to work fairly well on republican minds. I’ve realized (after Trump’s election) how many MILLIONS of stupid, racist, people live in my country. It was truly sobering and depressing.
They might not care now, but we need to make them OWN the disrespect towards our troops. Every single supporter of his needs Trump’s disrespect of the military thrown in their face until they just can’t take it anymore.
Applause Mrs. Krabapple! So, so true. This brainwashing is easy to accomplish when you strip education down and force religious indoctrination down the throats of the masses.
Veteran here. Listen, they didn’t care about the gold star family Trump shit all over. I think it will be okay for this white officer. Every time I see Sean Duffy remember what a lazy douche he was on Real World. Oh, his wife had a thing for Puck but he turned her down!
Is there no low too low for the Republicans? It’s like an addiction – you think the addict has hit their bottom, but then it’s goes further. It’s disgusting.
If anyone needs a laugh – the cold opening of SNL was hilarious and perfect. I’ve watched it a few times and it keeps me laughing.
Hey Sean, while you were on the Real World getting your ass handed to you on a daily basis by Kemeelah, Lt Col Vindman was out there tracking IED’s in Iraq.
Soooooo….take a whole stadium of seats.
This comment wins 2019 for me. Bravo! 🤣
LOL totally! While you were awkwardly flirting with Montana and Genesis on MTV, Sean, Lt. Col. Vindman was serving America.
Kameelah is an Ob/GYN doctor in New York City now!
OMG!!! Montana and Genesis.
Stop Tourmaline, you showing my age now :).
Edit: And yes, I totally believe Montana was irresponsible enough to let that kid sip her wine. Ya dummy.
Omg I am crying over this comment!!!!! The level of details!!!! Kameelah! Lmao!!!
And don’t even get me started on Sean thinking that Jason was his ally because they were both white men. Jason’s interest in Kameelah pissed Sean off to no end.
He was just a grade A douchebag that series so what we are seeing now is no surprise. He was showing his ass even back then.
I really loved that season in Boston as you can tell. #TeamKameelah4Life
And will someone spare a shoutout to ELKA and SYRUS?!?
(and honorable mention to anyone who remembers the epically named love interests TIMBER (Jason’s gf) and VAJ (Montana’s bf)!
Sip the wine like you are at an ‘East Boston after school program’!
Timber. Remember when Jason got on his high horse about her kissing another dude and he was interested in someone else during their time together.
That was not a good look for him. At all.
Vaj was…there. So, there is that.
Bowing Tiffany. SO good.
Dead at the comments about giving kids vino!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
This whole thread! Well done Tiffany
sorry i was leafing through Sean Duffy’s credentials and he’s a professional log roller and reality star. he was appointed district attorney with almost no experience to a county with less than 20k people. since being in the house he has only sat on one committee for financial services. how is he remotely qualified to comment on any of this??
But he married Rachel from Real World San Francisco with Pedro and Puck and they have a zillion kids so he’s qualified for everything because he’s a white guy whose wife is the more famous has-been almost celebrity
Ah, Pedro. He was an amazing human being. Sean and his wife, Rachel? Not so much. She auditioned for The View a lot but never made it. Truly a has been.
lol perfect
also: with their logic, can’t we argue that Melania has no loyalty to the USA and is most likely a spy ?
Ha, great point. The cognitive dissonance and mental gymnastics required to be a Trump supporter are like nothing I’ve witnessed before.
Coordinated disinformation campaign. Trump and his minions have a package of lies ready to blast at anyone who steps out of line. You don’t get this kind of lie circulating via bots and media appearances without careful planning.
They had to do something to discredit the impeachment inquiry since the House is now going to vote on it.
Proud of my hometown Chicago and the great reception given to Drumpf.
No. There is no bottom. GOP is sewage bottom dwellers.
This is vile, just like Hillary Clinton claiming Tulsi Gabbard, a decorated war veteran herself, is a Russian asset.
Gabbard IS a Russian asset, pushing ALL of Putin’s talking points. Wake up.
Yup. Tulsi exposed herself as Jill Stein 2.0. I suspect her defenders on social media are mostly bots. I’ve seen one call E Warren a “neo-liberal” LOL.
“Just like?” Yeah…. no. Gabbard isn’t a witness against Hillary in an legal matter. Also, Hillary never mentioned Gabbard by name.
Hillary didn’t actually say Tulsi’s name — AT ALL. It’s just that Gabbard read the tweet and then ASSUMED she was talking about her and fired back. Funny, that. Notice how NONE of the other dem candidates even responded or paid that tweet any attention? So, I think Gabbard needs to explain WHY she automatically assumed that tweet was for her, and WHY she felt the need to so vigorously defend herself against that tweet.
Mumbles, take your head out of your arse! Gabbard is totally compromised!
Anytime Russian media touts someone (orange turd and that stupid Tulsi), they are compromised and bought lock stock and barrel. Some GOPers even said they’d vote for that idiot because she is more palatable. No to Tulsi. I don’t care if she served the country. She sold her soul for rubles.
What an entire lsh!+ show this entire debacle is.
When you’ve got no defense you’ll sink this low, and the sinkers have nothing to lose, they have no respect for their constituents anyways, and are hoping they’re preaching to the converted.
They’re rolling the dice here, the GOP never-diers; if Dumpster wins again, they’ll be in like Flynn with the overlord. If he loses, they might do a 180 and turn against him, but when it’s after the fact it carries as much or as little weight as they want.
I came to the conclusion long ago that party lines are drawn very deep and very thick these days. Don’t expect any last minute come-to-Jesus moments from the Repubs, they will gloat embarrassingly if they’re re-elected and that’s all that matters to them at this point..
I’m sure Vindman knew that a smear campaign was a definite possibility, and that Trump is a vindictive, petty, narcissist who would lash out once he found out. But, since Vindman is a true patriot, he stepped up to the plate anyway, and delivered the goods. His opening statement is great, and he lays out the timeline of events–and parts of his opening statement align with the diplomat’s statement as well as others who have already testified. Also, parts of his opening statement make Sonderman, Volker and Rick (I look smart cuz I wear glasses now) Perry, look bad and like liars.
Also, can we take a moment here to acknowledge that in many of these statements that have leaked out that JOHN BOLTON actually looks like the GOOD guy in this situation??? These are such strange times we are living in, when a war hungry warhawk who wants to bomb everyone is like, “WAIT A MINUTE! Whoa whoa whoa, this is WRONG! And I’m TELLING!” Apparently, treason is the red line he won’t cross. Not only that, he made sure his staff reported this to the proper NSA attorney’s and authorities. What is going on that we might actually have to THANK Bolton for literally being a stand-up guy and saving our country? Because no matter what Fox News tries to spin, NO ONE is going to believe that Bolton is a liberal Democrat. We are truly in the Upside Down.
When you look in the dictionary for warmonger, all you see is a picture of John Bolton and his sidekick, the Yosemite Sam mustache.
When he looks like a reasonable person in context, you really need to re evaluate like as a whole. Not just choices, all of your life.
I said this somewhere else, but John Bolton doesn’t look good in this context at all. He looks to me like someone who got Big Mad that Trump won’t support his dream of WW3 where he can carve up any place w/ a patch of oil like a pie and threw a hissy fit and huffed off as a result. “Oh??? You’ll think about sending troops to the UKRAINE but you don’t give af about MY ideas for a war??? Fck you man.” He’s mad his plans got no traction with this government.
Yes, but all of this ratting out of the administration happened BEFORE Bolton was on bad terms with Trump. I agree that Bolton is hot to testify now, because of how his employment ended, though. Trump just sh***s all over everyone, and expects everyone to eat it up and be satisfied. He is not used to push back, and from people who have just as much power or more than him. I guarantee Bolton is coming to testify and depending on how pissed off he is, is going to be the level of PAIN he’s going to deal out. If he is UBER pissed, then this administration better batten down the hatches cuz ole mustachio there has a bad temper and a twisted view point. It could mean the ruin of more than one admin official.
I actually think the turd got rid of Bolton because he won’t go in on that drug deal. He wanted a puppet and Bolton pushed back and told everyone on staff to report it. Yeah he’s pissed and I hope he delivers the goods. He’s one ex employee who will not defy a subpoena.
Ugh, this weasel faced piece of crap and his bug eyed baby machine wife can go straight to hell. They make me ill.
Let me get this straight. They are all in with Pudding but since someone agreed to testify, now they say he’s bad because he came from USSR? You can’t have it both ways you GOPer turds.
Also who elected this poor man’s celeb to the house > Sean Duffy?
Also, Sean Duffy just sounds uneducated. It’s borderline rude to refer to Ukraine as “the Ukraine” because it implies it’s the Ukraine region of the USSR or Russia instead of a separate country.
Well I never thought Sean Duffy was an a** so now I very disappointed. You watch a guy and his wife on a couple seasons of Real World and Road Rules and you think you know someone.