Vindman Eugene Rep
includes alex twin
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AN 12 25
On Sunday, President Donald Trump declared that he will “be involved” in the federal government’s decision on whether to allow the streaming service Netflix to buy mass media and entertainment conglomerate Warner Brothers Discovery. On Monday, Paramount Skydance, another mass media and entertainment conglomerate, announced a hostile takeover bid for WBD — with news soon following that Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner’s private equity firm is part of the Paramount offer.
“Paramount is telling WBD shareholders that it has a smoother path to regulatory approval than does Netflix, and Kushner’s involvement only strengthens that case,” Axios reported. “Paramount is led by David Ellison, whose billionaire father Larry is a major supporter of President Trump.”
Axios added that Kushner’s firm, Affinity Partners, “was not mentioned in Paramount’s press release on Monday morning about its $108 billion bid, nor were participating sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar.”
Fortune reported that “Affinity and the other outside financing partners have agreed to forgo any governance rights, which Paramount said means the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States would have no jurisdiction over the transaction.”
But Axios’ Sarah Fischer wrote on social media: “Ask yourself, why would anyone want to put money into an investment of this caliber and have no governance rights or board seats?”
“Essentially,” she added, “people want to have control/access/political power behind the scenes.”
“Reality is,” Fischer explained, this hostile takeover is a good explanation “of how capitalism/democracy can be exploited for political gain,” with “Paramount essentially betting our open system incentivizes shareholders to take [the] best financial deal even if it means giving soft power” to three sovereign wealth funds, the President, and his son-in-law.
Critics are blasting Kushner’s and Trump’s involvement.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) remarked, “Donald Trump said he’ll ‘be involved in’ deciding if Netflix can buy Warner Bros. Is that an open invite for CEOs to curry favor with Trump in exchange for merger approvals? It should be an independent decision by the Department of Justice based on the law and facts.”
Award-winning journalist Sophia A. Nelson, responding to trump’s remarks, observed: “This is ridiculous. Corrupt. And NOT what a President gets involved in.”
Professor, investor, and marketing executive Adam Cochran wrote: “Trump is talking about him personally being involved in deciding the fate of the Netflix-Warner Brothers deal, and how it’s ‘bad.’ Meanwhile his son-in-law is financing the competing offer. There has truly never been a more corrupt administration in US history!”
Alexander Vindman, former Director of European Affairs for the United States National Security Council (NSC), wrote: “F– NO to another corrupt Trump deal. Nepobaby, Jared’s, involvement would deliver CNN to MAGA.”
NewsNation’s Kurt Bardella, a communications advisor and media relations consultant, asked: “Alexa, what is a ‘conflict-of-interest’?”
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2 25
On Wednesday, Democrat Eugene Vindman won his House race against the Republican and former army Green Beret Derrick Anderson in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District — a key victory for Democrats as they seek to regain a majority in the lower chamber.
In his first term, Trump fired Vindman and his brother, Alexander, who both held senior roles on Trump’s National Security Council, after they raised concerns about Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
see pow ron johnson
AN 11 25
Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA) alluded to a secret tape of a call between President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in his comments on the House floor following a Tuesday Oval Office meeting between the two leaders. Vindman, in his remarks called for the release of the transcripts of the call.
" Trump has the responsibility to release the transcripts of his call with MBS. You will be shocked by what you hear," Vindman posted on X Wednesday.
This comes, reports The Daily Beast, "one day after the president insisted Mohammed bin Salman had nothing to do with Khashoggi’s killing, despite U.S. intelligence officials concluding he ordered the hit, a former Trump national security insider has claimed there is explosive evidence to the contrary."
Vindman was a National Security Council staffer under the first Trump administration, whose work included reviewing certain calls between the president and foreign leaders, The Daily Beast explains.
"Vindman claims that one phone call he reviewed undercut Trump’s astonishing defense of the Crown Prince in the Oval Office on Tuesday, when he said of Khashoggi’s murder by Saudi agents: 'Things happen,'" they report.
“During my tenure on Trump’s White House National Security Council staff, I reviewed many of Trump’s calls with foreign leaders. Of all the calls I reviewed, two stood out as the most problematic,” Vindman says.
"The first, we all know, was between President Trump and President [Volodymyr] Zelensky, which resulted in President Trump’s first impeachment. The second was between President Trump and Mohammed bin Salman," he adds.
“After the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, I reviewed a call between the president and the Saudi crown prince. The American people and the Khashoggi family deserve to know what was said on that call. If history is any guide, the receipts will be shocking," Vindman says.
Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist, was murdered on October 2, 2018, by a team of Saudi government agents inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
His remains have never been found. U.S. intelligence and a UN investigation concluded that bin Salman approved the operation to capture or kill Khashoggi, an assessment Saudi Arabia denies.
When taking questions from journalists following his meeting with bin Salman Tuesday, Trump berated ABC reporter Mary Bruce after she asked the Crown Prince about his involvement in the murder.
"You’re mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen,” Trump said, adding that bin Salman "knew nothing about it and we can leave it at that."
"You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that," Trump snapped.
Trump hosted bin Salman at a state dinner Tuesday night with guests including Elon Musk, soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, Apple chief executive Tim Cook, Nvidia chief Jensen Huang and billionaire investor Bill Ackerman. SIC
Trump has long-standing financial ties to Saudi Arabia, including past business dealings and recent deals involving his family and the Trump Organization.
These connections have recently drawn scrutiny due to potential conflicts of interest, especially as the Trump family continues to pursue new business opportunities in the kingdom.
Simultaneously, Trump's administration has deepened the US's strategic defense partnership with Saudi Arabia, recently designating it a major non-NATO ally.
Vindman isn't backing down on his calls for the transcript of the call in what some say may be yet another Trump cover-up.
"Speaking on CNN on Wednesday morning ahead of Trump and the crown prince attending a Saudi investment forum, Vindman said the call he reviewed was equally disturbing and shocking 'in light of the enrichment that the Trump family has received in the ensuing years,'" The Daily Beast reports.
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an 2 25
Since I offered you 10 reasons for modest optimism last week, discontent with the Trump-Musk regime has surged even further. America appears to be waking up. Here’s the latest evidence — 10 more reasons for modest optimism.
1. Trump’s approval ratings continue to plummet.
The chief reason Trump was elected was to reduce the high costs of living — especially food, housing, health care, and gas.
A new Pew poll shows these costs remain uppermost in Americans’ minds. Sixty-three percent identify inflation as an overriding problem, and 67 percent say the same about the affordability of health care.
That same poll shows the public turning on Trump. The percent of those disapproving of Trump’s handling of the economy has risen to 53 percent (versus 45 percent who approve). Disapproval of his actions as president has risen to the same 53 percent versus 45 percent approval, which shows how essential economic performance is to the public’s assessment of presidents these days.
The Pew poll also shows 57 percent of the public believes that Trump “has exceeded his presidential authority.” By making the world’s richest person his hatchet man, Trump has made more vivid the role of money in politics. Hence, a record-high 72 percent now say a major problem is “the role of money in politics.”
Other polls show similar results. In the Post-Ipsos poll, significantly more Americans strongly disapprove of Trump (39 percent) than strongly approve of him (27 percent). Reuters, Quinnipiac University, CNN, and Gallup polls show Trump’s approval ratings plummeting (ranging from 44 percent to 47 percent).
In all of these polls, more Americans now disapprove of Trump than approve of him.
2. DOGE is running amusk.
DOGE looks more and more like a giant hoax. This week, reporters found that nearly 40 percent of the contracts DOGE claims to have canceled aren’t expected to save the government any money, according to the administration’s own data.
As a result, on Tuesday DOGE deleted all of the five biggest “savings” on its so-called “wall of receipts.” The scale of its errors — and the misunderstandings and poor quality control that appear to underlie them — has raised questions about the effort’s broader work, which has led to mass firings and cutbacks across the federal government.
DOGE has also had to reverse its firings. On Tuesday, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Douglas A. Collins celebrated cuts to 875 contracts that he claimed would save nearly $2 billion. But when veterans learned that those contracts covered medical services, recruited doctors, and funded cancer programs as well as burial services for veterans, the outcry was so loud that on Wednesday the VA rescinded the ordered cuts.
After hundreds of nuclear weapons workers were abruptly fired, the Trump administration is scrambling to rehire them.
After hundreds of scientists at the Food and Drug Administration were fired, they’re being asked to return.
On Wednesday, Musk acknowledged that DOGE “accidentally canceled” efforts by the U.S. Agency for International Development to prevent the spread of Ebola. But Musk insisted the initiative was quickly restored.
Wrong. Current and former USAID officials say Ebola prevention efforts have been largely halted since Musk and his DOGE allies moved last month to gut the global-assistance agency and freeze its outgoing payments. The teams and contractors that would be deployed to fight an Ebola outbreak have been dismantled, they added.
DOGE staff are resigning. On Tuesday, 21 federal civil service tech workers resigned from DOGE, writing in a joint resignation letter that they were quitting rather than help Musk “dismantle critical public services.”
The staffers all worked for what was known as the U.S. Digital Service before it was absorbed by DOGE. Their ranks include data scientists, product managers, and engineers. According to the Associated Press, “all previously held senior roles at such tech companies as Google and Amazon and wrote in their resignation letter that they joined the government out of a sense of duty to public service.”
Finally, Musk’s conflicts of interest are bursting into the open, and it isn’t a pretty sight. The FAA is close to canceling a $2.4 billion contract with Verizon to overhaul a communications system integral to its air traffic control system — and awarding the contract to Musk’s Starlink instead.
Why? A team of employees from SpaceX, Starlink’s parent company, has been working inside the FAA in recent days. And Musk himself has been criticizing Verizon’s platform on his social media company, X.
Senior FAA officials have refused to sign paperwork authorizing the switch to Starlink, so Musk’s team is now seeking help to secure the deal from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau. Could Musk’s financial motive be any clearer?
3. Tesla is in deep s---.
Americans outraged by Musk’s outsized role in the Trump regime are targeting Musk’s Tesla.
Many Tesla owners are feeling buyer’s remorse — their cars are vandalized or they become publicly shamed by strangers upset with the car company’s CEO. Others are putting anti-Musk bumper stickers on their cars.
A video from musician Sheryl Crow that received over 20 million views on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook features the singer waving goodbye to her Tesla Model S, as Andrea Bocelli’s “Time to Say Goodbye” plays in the background. “There comes a time when you have to decide who you are willing to align with,” Crow wrote in the caption. “So long Tesla.”
Last weekend, thousands demonstrated outside of Tesla dealerships from Philadelphia to Seattle to register their outrage with Musk’s political power.
The #TeslaTakedown campaign page on Action Network has listed 46 upcoming events at Tesla dealerships and charging stations around the country over the next week. Another organizing platform, Mobilize, includes another 32 events.
Union pension funds are getting involved. Randi Weingarten, president of the giant American Federation of Teachers, has called on the CEOs of the nation’s six largest asset management firms to review Tesla’s current valuation. “This is about safeguarding workers’ retirements,” she said in a statement. “Just this week we saw Tesla stock continue to sink faster than a Cybertruck in quicksand as European sales fell off a cliff. So, we knew we needed to act.”
4. The oligarchy has never been more exposed.
An important aspect of the era we’re in is that a record share of the nation’s wealth is in the hands of a small group of people who are now revealing themselves to be remarkably selfish, shameless, and insensitive to the needs of America.
This is a further reason for modest optimism because as the oligarchy exposes itself for what it is, the dangers it poses to average people become more apparent — and the odds increase of a fierce public backlash to it.
On Wednesday, at the same time Elon Musk (the world’s richest person) was lecturing Trump’s Cabinet about the importance of decimating the federal workforce, Jeff Bezos (America’s second-richest) was telling staffers at The Washington Postthat henceforth the Post’sopinions would focus on defending “personal liberties and free markets” and opposing viewpoints would not be published.
The Post’s opinion editor, David Shipley, promptly resigned, as he should.
When oligarchs talk of “personal liberties and free markets” they mean their own liberties to become even richer and more powerful, as the rest of America slides into worsening economic insecurity and fear. When the oligarchs speak of “freedom,” what they actually seek is freedom from accountability.
All this is becoming more apparent than ever.
5. People are rising against corporate power.
For all these reasons, a backlash is beginning. Popular rage that this country is now run by an oligarchy, a small group of billionaires and corporate elites, is surging.
Today’s “economic blackout” has enlisted millions of Americans who have stopped buying and thereby demonstrated our power.
Meanwhile, protests are breaking out against big predatory corporations. On the eastern shore of Maryland, a bright red Republican area, 20,000 have signed a petition demanding an investigation of Delmarva Power, a subsidiary of utility giant Exelon, for overcharging them. That’s almost 5 percent of Delmarva’s entire customer base.
The same anger is mounting in New York City at Con Edison. And in St. Joseph, Missouri, at Evergy.
When House Republicans were in their home districts last week, they were deluged with angry questions about corporate power, Elon Musk, and big money.
A few Senate Republicans even explained to their constituents that they voted to confirm Robert Kennedy Jr. as secretary of Health and Human Services because he’s “hated” by Big Pharma.
Meanwhile, Bernie is back. While not running for president again, 83-year-old Bernie Sanders this week launched his “National Tour to Fight Oligarchy” — to overflow crowds in deep-red Nebraska and Iowa. Bernie is showing that even in red America, opposition to oligarchy and Trump is becoming the dominant view of a large swath of the public.
Record-breaking crowds are also appearing for other notable progressives. A record-sized group showed up to Representative Jim McGovern’s town hall. The same thing happened in Massachusetts with Senator Elizabeth Warren.
6. As Trump and Musk trade Social Security and Medicaid for big tax cuts for the rich, Americans will go ballistic.
The budget plan passed by the House this week — at Trump’s urging — gives billionaire oligarchs and giant corporations the lion’s share of $4.5 trillion in tax cuts.
To offset the $4.5 trillion, the plan includes severe spending cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, and Social Security.
Seventy-two million Americans rely on Medicaid, half of them children. Forty-two million Americans receive food stamps — many who aren’t paid enough to put food on the table.
Federal workers at the Social Security Administration learned Wednesday that a plan was already underway to cut 50 percent of staff, as well as 1,200 field office locations.
The move is likely to affect tens of thousands of employees across the country and millions who rely on the agency for monthly checks that keep them afloat. Such deep cuts to SSA, already at historically low staffing, will cause significant degradation of services, very likely including checks missed and individuals dying before their claims can be processed.
Why do I include this outrage in my list of reasons for modest optimism? Because if nothing else awakens the slumbering giant of the American people, the Trump-Musk attacks on Medicaid and Social Security to pay for another giant tax cut for the rich will.
Polls show unequivocally that Americans across party lines reject tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the rich. In fact, more than two-thirds — 67 percent — of Americans support higher taxes on billionaires.
7. Democracies are joining together, minus Trump’s America.
Since it’s become clear that America has begun allying itself with Russia, the movement of the world’s other major democracies to join forces has been gaining momentum.
On February 17, eight European leaders and the heads of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and European Union met. On Wednesday, France’s Emmanuel Macron spoke with the leaders of 19 countries, including Canada, either in person or over videoconferencing. Leaders from Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, and Sweden also joined the conversation.
Britain’s PM Keir Starmer is shifting the center of UK foreign policy from the United States to Europe.
All of this bodes well for a united front of democracies against authoritarian dictatorships — even though, tragically, Trump’s America is on the wrong side.
8. Negative economic consequences of the Trump-Musk blunderbuss are beginning to appear.
The economy is starting to show signs of strain as the Trump-Musk moves to shrink federal spending, lay off government workers, and impose tariffs on America’s largest trading partners shake businesses and ricochet across states and cities.
Trump’s moves to halt foreign aid and freeze some federal funding have already taken a toll on domestic farmers who export billions of dollars of products as part of American foreign aid programs.
Billions of dollars of climate and infrastructure investments that were underway during the Biden administration are now in limbo.
Apollo Global Management, an investment firm, estimates that DOGE job cuts could rise to 300,000. When government contractors are included, total layoffs could be closer to 1 million.
Economic indicators are showing signs of mounting stress, with much of the anxiety focused on Trump’s tariffs. On Thursday, he said tariffs on Canada and Mexico would go into effect on March 4 and he would impose an additional 10 percent tariff on China.
A survey of consumer sentiment published by the Conference Board on Tuesday recorded its largest monthly decline in confidence since 2021 in February. The drop was attributed to growing pessimism about employment prospects and future business conditions, with concerns about trade and tariffs reaching levels last seen during the 2019 trade wars in Mr. Trump’s first term.
This week’s University of Michigan survey of American consumers shows that they expect prices will rise at a 3.5 percent yearly rate over the next decade — the highest rate of consumers’ inflation fears since 1995.
A measure of corporate activity from S&P Global published last week showed business expansion slowing in the United States in February as a result of “uncertainty and instability surrounding new government policies” such as federal spending cuts and tariff-related developments.
The National Association of Homebuilders said in its latest report that builder confidence had fallen to a five-month low because of concerns about tariffs, elevated mortgage rates, and high housing costs.
Morgan Stanley economists estimate that tariffs will raise inflation, as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, by as much as 0.6 percentage points and depress real consumer spending by as much as 2 percentage points. The overall hit to inflation-adjusted economic growth could be as high as 1.1 percentage points.
I include these gloomy economic statistics as a modest reason for optimism because they, too, signal the looming end of public support for Musk and Trump.
9. Elections are looking brighter.
Add up all of this and elections are looking brighter — and we don’t have to wait until 2026. This is a major election year. If you count all the seats up for election this year at the local, state, and federal levels, there are 100,000 seats open across 45 states.
Governors, mayors, city councils, state representatives, judges, school boards — these positions up and down the entire ballot in 2025 — are a vital line of defense against the Trump-Vance-Musk regime.
Wisconsin voters will fill the deciding seat on their state’s Supreme Court. This election will have huge implications for the labor rights and voting rights of everyday Wisconsinites. Musk is filling the coffers of the Republican candidate right now, but Wisconsinites won’t let Musk’s big money determine their future.
If you live in New York City and don’t like the Trump administration meddling in the federal corruption charges against current Mayor Eric Adams, you have the power to choose a new mayor.
The great states of New Jersey and Virginia will elect their next governors — and control of their state houses.
On the federal level, Florida will hold two special elections for the U.S. House of Representatives, and New York will hold another later this year. These could affect the balance of power in the House.
The sea change is already beginning.
On Wednesday, Democrat Eugene Vindman won his House race against the Republican and former army Green Beret Derrick Anderson in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District — a key victory for Democrats as they seek to regain a majority in the lower chamber.
In his first term, Trump fired Vindman and his brother, Alexander, who both held senior roles on Trump’s National Security Council, after they raised concerns about Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
As a member of Congress, Vindman will now help fellow Democratic lawmakers serve as a check on the power of Trump.
10. Adding it all up.
Connect the dots: Trump’s ratings continue to plummet. Musk’s DOGE is off the rails and becoming a late-night joke. Consumers are taking out their anger on Tesla. America’s oligarchs are openly defiant and behaving shamelessly. Bernie and other progressive voices are attracting record-breaking crowds. Trump and Musk are attacking Medicaid and Social Security to pay for a giant tax cut for the wealthy. The world’s leading democracies are joining together against dictatorial regimes, including Trump’s America. Economic indicators are trending downward. And elections look brighter.
What does this add up to? America is waking up, and it doesn’t like what it’s seeing in Trump and Musk.
I don’t want to sound overly optimistic. We have a huge amount of work to do. My purpose in giving you these additional reasons for modest optimism is for you to have a sense of possibility.
All is not lost. We are not doomed. The Trump-Vance-Musk regime is filled with incompetence and riddled with treachery.
If all of us maintain our courage and resolve, and do what’s necessary, we will prevail.
NOW READ:[Liberals need to stop letting Trump voters off the hook
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an 9 24
Recoiled in fear': Trump’s former officials serve up damning responses to his Iran claims
David Badash October 01, 2024
Just before Iran launched an expected missile attack on Israel Tuesday, Donald Trump made wild and false claims, insisting if he were President the attack “would not have happened,” while also falsely claiming Iran never launched any attacks during his lone term in the White House. But top former Trump administration officials are rebutting those claims.
“The World is on fire and spiraling out of control,” Trump said in statement posted to his Truth Social account, titled: “Statement from President Donald J. Trump on the Iranian Terror Regime’s Imminent Attack on Israel.”
After attacking both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump falsely said: “When I was President, Iran was in total check. They were starved for cash, fully contained, and desperate to make a deal. Kamala flooded them with American cash and, ever since, they’ve been exporting terror all over, and unraveling the Middle East. Under ‘President Trump,’ we had NO WAR in the Middle East, NO WAR in Europe, and Harmony in Asia, No Inflation, No Afghanistan Catastrophe. Instead, we had PEACE.”
He also claimed (in all caps), “This war was totally preventable. It should have never happened. If I were president, it would not have happened!”
READ MORE: ‘The Women Thing’: Harris Campaign Hits Trump for Saying Killing Roe v. Wade Was ‘Great’
NBC News’ Senior Capitol Hill Correspondent Garrett Haake late Tuesday morning, just before the Iranian strike on Israel, reported Trump told him: “They should not do it. It would be a big mistake if they do,” and, “They have no respect for the administration. This would have never happened if I was president.”
Alexander Vindman, the former Trump National Security Council Director for European Affairs for the United States, responded, alleging Trump was fearful of Iran while he was President.
“Iran struck first and early, during Trump’s presidency attacking US troops. Trump consistently recoiled in fear inviting further attacks. Trump also set the table for Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine by his abuse of power, resulting in his first impeachment & his friendship with dictators & weakening of alliances. We are in a more dangerous world,” he added, appearing to suggest because of “Trump’s first term.”
Vindman was not alone in fact-checking Trump.
READ MORE: Biden Calls Trump a ‘Liar’ as Administration Hits Back Over False Helene Response Attacks
Stephanie Grisham, Trump’s former White House press secretary and White House communications director, responded to another claim Trump made on Truth Social: “Look at the World today — Look at the missiles flying right now in the Middle East, look at what’s happening with Russia/Ukraine, look at Inflation destroying the World. NONE OF THIS HAPPENED WHILE I WAS PRESIDENT!”
Grisham wrote: “Fact check: In 2020, Iran fired ballistic missiles at US forces in retaliation for the Soleimani assassination. 110 US service members got traumatic brain injuries. Many Admin officials remain on an Iranian hit list today.”
Vindman followed up his post with others.
“Trump is chaos!” he wrote. “Trump did not/ will not deliver security, geopolitical stability, or economic prosperity!!”
“Would Trump be defending Israeli skies right now or would he be asking how much are you going to pay me for protection. We don’t have to guess, he will ask for protection money,” Vindman, a national security expert, also alleged.
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DoD army said multiple times in writing that no retaliation david norquist #2?
safe house plan for family b/c of (anticipated?) threats?
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why not protected by army whistleblower law like nat guard guy after WH church photo op?
no lnx
Vindman says Ron Johnson, others have 'blood on their hands' over Russian invasion of Ukraine
Bill Glauber
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Former national security aide Alexander Vindman accused Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and others of having "blood on their hands" as Ukraine withstands a withering assault from Russian troops.
In an interview with the Journal Sentinel, Vindman included Johnson on a list with former President Donald Trump, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Fox News host Tucker Carlson, claiming they undermined U.S. national security.
"Civilians are dying, Ukrainians are providing a formidable defense, defending democracy for Americans as well as for themselves and their homes. And Ron Johnson is trying to distract and obfuscate," Vindman said.
Vindman was responding to comments made Feb. 27 by Johnson on Fox News.
Vindman had been with Johnson on a key trip to Ukraine in May 2019, in which the senator sought to assure the newly elected government of congressional support.
A retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, Vindman also blamed Johnson and others for ending his military career.
Vindman was a key witness in the first U.S. House impeachment of Trump. He listened in on the 2019 call when Trump asked Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to investigate Joe Biden while withholding U.S. military aid to the country. Trump later released about $400 million in military aid to Ukraine.
Last week, in an interview with Fox News, Johnson blamed Vindman and others for helping embolden Russian president Vladimir Putin.
"I don't think Vladimir Putin would have moved on Ukraine were it not for the weakness displayed ― certainly by the Biden administration, but by the West in general," Johnson said in the interview. "I'm certainly hoping that Col. Vindman, Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi ― who used Ukraine as a pawn in their impeachment travesty ― are also recognizing and reflecting about how they weakened Ukraine, weakened the West, weakened America by the divisive politics that they play."
lnx
"There's much blame to go around, but in terms of atrocities, that falls squarely on the shoulders of Vladimir Putin and his cronies," Johnson said.
Johnson stands by comments
According to a statement from his office, Johnson stands behind his Fox News comments. In addition, the statement asserted, Pelosi, Schiff and Vindman "weakened Ukraine by harming its relationship with the U.S. and therefore made Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian aggression, destabilization efforts, and ultimately invasion.
"Lt. Col Vindman’s actions demonstrated disloyalty to both the U.S. President he served and the Ukrainian people we were trying to help," the statement from his office said.
Vindman, who is a senior advisor for the liberal group Vote Vets, countered that Johnson was "a huge disappointment" on the Ukraine issue.
"He's responsible more so than many of his colleagues for creating a situation in which the U.S. actually might find itself in a hot war," Vindman said.
an 820
lt
Col Vindman accuses Trump of ‘bullying and intimidation’ in scathing WaPo op-ed
Matthew Chapman / Raw StoryAugust 1, 2020
On Saturday, writing for The Washington Post, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, one of the key witnesses in the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump, slammed the president and stood up…
an 720
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Pentagon is now training the military to view protestors and journalists as a ‘threat’: report
David Badash / The New Civil Rights Movement
Former Pentagon press secretary and CIA spokesperson George Little calls it “appalling and dangerous.”
https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/the-trump-white-house-sent-the-pentagon-a-list-of-ugly-allegations-against-alexander-vindman-in-order-to-derail-his-promotion-report/
he resigned? 1st report was WH asked for dirt but none could be found. sen duckworth still hold?
truscott
https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/were-slipping-further-into-fascism-as-trump-indulges-all-his-worst-instincts-with-the-help-of-his-toadies/
no lnx
We’re slipping further into fascism as Trump indulges all his worst instincts — with the help of his toadies
President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks at the 2020 National Prayer Breakfast Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian
Written by Lucian K. Truscott IV / Salon February 15, 2020
There will come a time when we look back on this week as the moment in our history when we finally understood that we have a man as president who is acting like a fascist dictator. Just look at the headlines from one day’s New York Times alone: “Alarm in Capital as Axes Swing in Growing Post-Acquittal Purge,” “Justice Dept. Acts to Ease Sentence for a Trump Ally.” If either one of those headlines had run on the front page of a major American newspaper before now, not to mention both of them at once, we would have believed as a people, as a citizenry, that we were facing a national crisis. But this week? Wednesday was just another day in Donald Trump’s America.
The day before that, in what became known as the “Tuesday night massacre,” all four prosecutors in the case against Trump’s longtime friend and political bad boy Roger Stone had resigned in protest of the intervention by Trump and his attorney general, William Barr, to reduce the sentence recommended by the Department of Justice in Stone’s conviction for lying to congressional committees and tampering with witnesses.
All of this followed closely the “Friday night massacre” of last week, when Trump fired two of the impeachment witnesses against him, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman of the National Security Council and Gordon Sondland, ambassador to the European Union.
But two “massacres” in a row was just the beginning. By mid-week, Trump was suggesting that Army officials with court-martial authority over Vindman should “take a look at” punishing him for testifying at the impeachment hearing. On Thursday, the New York Times front page trumpeted, “U,S. Lawyers Fear Removal of a Guardrail: Sone Case Stirs Worry of What’s to Come.” And by Friday morning, a panel of legal pundits on MSNBC were worrying about what would happen when Trump didn’t merely step in to help allies like Stone but actually began prosecuting his political foes.
Folks, let’s not mince words: This is the kind of stuff we read about happening in dictatorships like Russia and North Korea and Iran. And yes, it’s the kind of rule by strong-arm fiat that was practiced by Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.
Before this week, I would have thought it an exaggeration to compare Trump’s frequent rallies to the infamous Nuremberg rallies Hitler held during the1930s. No longer. Trump’s rallies are unnervingly close to those held in Nuremberg. The MAGA hat has become a kind of Trumpian Nazi helmet. The denunciations of hated minorities are the same. As is his insane bellowing before a crowd screaming its slavish obeisance.
Let’s just stop for a moment and consider the angry chants of “Lock her up,” first directed at Hillary Clinton, now at Nancy Pelosi.What do Trump’s cheering crowds want his Democratic opponents locked up for? Neither of those women has faced criminal charges, much less been convicted of any crime. Neither is even under investigation for corruption or alleged criminal behavior. But that doesn’t matter to Trump and his rally crowds. This stuff has been going on for so long, it’s clear that they actually do want them locked up. When Trump stands before his screaming fans, raising his arms and smiling, it’s obvious he does, too. To call for the imprisonment of political opponents without trial is not playing with rhetoric for effect. It’s not political gimmickry. It’s not cute. It’s not funny. It’s not clever. Let’s say out loud what it is: It’s pure fascism, plain and simple.
The man who stands before those rallies and encourages such idolatry isn’t merely running for president. He is calling, directly and without apology, for the kind of obedience and loyalty demanded by dictators. He is commanding worship and submission. It must be why he attracts so completely the support of evangelical Christians. He truly is the false idol their Bible warned them against. They have fallen for him in the same way the most conspicuously devout worshipers commit sins. The inevitability of Trump and his evangelical masses is jaw-dropping, and yes, biblical.
By the end of the week, we had the practically comic spectacle of Attorney General Barr scolding Trump publicly for his tweets in an interview with ABC News, saying they “make it impossible for me to do my job.” Within hours, Trump replied — by tweet, naturally enough — that he has the “legal right” to tell Barr what to do in a criminal case, “but I have so far chosen not to!”
Which given the events of the rest of the week is a little bit like reassuring the “Lock her up” minions at his rallies, “Just wait.”
It’s hard to put a finger on the worst thing Trump has done since taking office, but right up there is the complete destruction of the idea that the person in the Oval Office is the president of all the people. He isn’t. He doesn’t want to be. If you didn’t vote for him, if you’re not out there wearing a MAGA hat and screaming at his rallies, you’re a non-person. If your state didn’t go for him in the 2016 election, forget about it. Just ask California, or Puerto Rico, still waiting for federal assistance after natural disasters. Or ask New York, which Trump is now extorting like a domestic Ukraine, by denying New Yorkers access to the “Trusted Traveler” program unless the state “stop all of its unnecessary lawsuits & harrassment” [sic]....
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post impeach
https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/alexander-vindman-a-key-impeachment-witness-was-just-reportedly-escorted-out-of-the-white-house/
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https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/white-house-targeting-of-truth-tellers-is-turning-the-intelligence-community-into-a-crowd-of-cowards/
revenge witch hunt authoritarian // wm barr mueller probe collusion
no lnx
White House targeting of truth tellers is turning the intelligence community into a crowd of cowards
Written by Mark Sumner / Daily Kos February 9, 2020
Donald Trump’s removal of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, his brother Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, and Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland was not a “massacre” in the spirit of what happened with Richard Nixon’s dismissal of special prosecutor Archibald Cox. Because what raised the body count in Nixon’s case was that his own people resigned rather than carry out clearly immoral orders. That’s not a problem for Trump.
The whole story of Donald Trump’s occupation of the White House has been one in which every unit of the government—from the EPA to the DOJ to the State Department—has been systematically cleansed of competency in favor of reflexive obedience. So naturally no one at the White House had a second thought about escorting out a decorated veteran for the crime of speaking the truth, or another veteran for the crime of being related to someone Trump doesn’t like. And just as naturally, Trump had no hesitation in owning these actions.
But what Trump has done so far, may be just a hint of the destruction to come, and what he’s already done to the intelligence agencies represents a looming threat from both inside and outside the nation.
Every time Trump plumbs new depths of odiousness, his staff makes a scramble to create an excuse. On Friday, that excuse was that Vindman wasn’t being let go because he obeyed a congressional subpoena; it was all just part of a “shrinking” of Trump’s already wildly reduced White House staff.
And every time Trump’s staff constructs one of these pretexts for why he’s not as awful as he seems, Trump rushes forward to make it clear that he so, so is. Just as he continuously blew up the various reasons that Republicans concocted as excuses for Trump’s actions in Ukraine, he couldn’t allow the public to think that he was anything less than a monster in sending away Vindman.
That’s why Trump was on Twitter Saturday morning to make it clear he was sacking the Ukraine expert for being “very insubordinate.” Why Yevgeny Vindman was also shipped off wasn’t clear. Apparently he was insubordinate adjacent. Trump’s advisers surely have an excuse for that one, too.
Of course, both Vindmans are just immigrants in the armed services. As The Washington Post reported last November, Trump’s attitude in that area was godawful on multiple fronts.
“The Trump administration has reversed almost all progress, out loud and with purpose. Their message to immigrant service members is the same as that to Vindman: You are foreign, you are suspect, you cannot belong.”
But if what Trump has done so far seems egregious (because it is), it’s barely a patch on things to come. As The Washington Post reports, Trump has his staff working up the removal of intelligence community inspector general Michael Atkinson. Atkinson’s involvement was simply that he notified Congress of the existence of a whistleblower complain as required by law.
Who watches the watchmen? Not a damned soul, apparently. Or at least no one who is allowed to do anything about it. Like speak.
At the State Department, at the National Security Council, at the CIA, the FBI, the DOJ … everywhere in the government the actions have been the same. Long term non-partisan employees have been forced from their positions and roles that have never in the past been political have been made over in the service of Trump. By long tradition, the CIA director does not attend the State of the Union address to avoid even a symbolic suggestion that the agency acts out of anything but its best interpretation of the information. But Gina Haspel was there on Tuesday night, bouncing up with the best Republican jack-in-the-boxes to applaud every moment of Trump’s partisan attacks and game show stunts.
Even before Trump gets around to sacking Atkinson, the conversion of the intelligence community into another aspect of his campaign machinery is already clear. As Politico reports, the regular briefing of Congress on threats to the nation has been delayed. The reason for that delay: “fears of provoking Trump’s ire.”
Even though the purpose of this annual appearance is to outline the biggest threats to the nation in front of the nation, intelligence agencies are now arguing to move the whole hearing behind closed doors. More than that, they want the whole threat overview classified. After all, people don’t need to know what the dangers are; not when the biggest is sitting on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Intelligence agencies don’t want to tell Congress the truth about what is happening in public, because they’re afraid they might say something Trump doesn’t like. Because saying something that Trump doesn’t like can be punished. Even if it’s true.
Especially if it’s true.
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:{Read Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman's letter asking Fox to retract a segment smearing him:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:
11/20/19 4:35 PM EST
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nat bert
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/30/nunes-acolyte-misrepresented-himself-to-trump-as-ukraine-expert-061763
A decorated Army officer who testified to House investigators on Tuesday told lawmakers that a close associate of Republican Rep. Devin Nunes “misrepresented” himself to President Donald Trump in an effort to involve himself further in Ukraine policy, according to two people familiar with his closed-door deposition.
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert, told lawmakers that after attending Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inauguration in May as part of a delegation led by Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Vindman had been looking forward to debriefing Trump and giving a positive account of Zelensky’s vision for Ukraine’s future.
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“The U.S. government policy community’s view is that the election of Zelenskyy and the promise of reforms to eliminate corruption will lock in Ukraine’s Western-leaning trajectory, and allow Ukraine to realize its dream of a vibrant democracy and economic prosperity,” Vindman said in his opening statement.
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But he was instructed “at the last second” not to attend the debriefing, Vindman told lawmakers, because Trump’s advisers worried it might confuse the president: Trump believed at the time that Kashyap Patel, a longtime Nunes staffer who joined the White House in February and had no discernible Ukraine experience or expertise, was actually the NSC’s top Ukraine expert instead of Vindman.
Vindman testified that he was told this directly by his boss at the time, NSC senior director for European and Russian affairs Fiona Hill.
Hill told Vindman that she and national security adviser John Bolton thought it best to exclude Vindman from the debriefing to avoid “an uncomfortable situation,” he said.
POLITICO previously reported thatHill testified that Trump thought Patel was in charge of Ukraine policy for the NSC, but Vindman’s exclusion from a key Ukraine meeting because of concerns over a potential conflict with Trump has not been disclosed before.
It helps explain why the president tweeted on Tuesday that he’d never met Vindman despite his clear interest in Ukraine — senior officials have said that Trump directed them to consult with his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, on matters of Ukraine policy.
And Vindman’s exclusion sheds even more light on the unusual steps top NSC officials were taking as early as May to avoid angering or annoying Trump on Ukraine issues — and the unusual level of access Patel had to the president.
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“It’s crazy,” said one person familiar with Vindman’s testimony. “Vindman should have been in that meeting.”
Vindman also testified that he was told Patel had been circumventing normal NSC process to get negative material about Ukraine in front of the president, feeding Trump’s belief that Ukraine was brimming with corruption and had interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Democrats. [why? DRIVEN BY NUNES?]
That upset Vindman, along with Hill and Bolton, he testified, because they were constantly having to counter that narrative with the president.
It’s still not clear what materials Patel was giving Trump, or where he was getting them. But he was not interacting with Ukraine experts at the State Department and Pentagon on the issue, and never had a conversation with Vindman, the NSC’s director for Ukraine, about Ukraine — or about anything for that matter, Vindman testified.
Patel joined the National Security Council’s International Organizations and Alliances directorate in February and was promoted to a senior counterterrorism role around the same time as Trump’s July 25 call with Zelensky, in which he urged the newly elected leader to investigate Biden and “get to the bottom of” Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election.
Patel had previously served as Nunes’ top staffer on the House Intelligence Committee and worked to discredit the FBI and DOJ officials investigating Russia’s election interference.
For that reason, Vindman was careful to not overtly criticize Patel so as not to anger Nunes — the ranking member of the intelligence panel — who floated in and out of the 10-hour deposition, according to a person familiar with his testimony.
Vindman, a combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient who has served in the Army for more than two decades, joined the White House in July 2018 as a detailee from the office of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He testified on Tuesday wearing his uniform, in keeping with past practice for active members of the military.
His opening statement — in which he testified that he raised alarms internally about efforts to pressure Ukraine into launching political investigations in exchange for military assistance aid — made him an immediate target of Trump’s allies, who began floating a conspiracy theory late Monday night that Vindman was working as a double agent for both the Ukrainians and the United States.
Citing Vindman’s birthplace — the Soviet Union — and a New York Times report that said Vindman met with the Ukrainians periodically to discuss how they should deal with Giuliani, Republicans began publicly questioning where Vindman’s loyalties lie.
"It seems very clear that he is incredibly concerned about Ukrainian defense,” former GOP congressman Sean Duffy said on CNN on Tuesday morning. “I don't know that he's concerned about American policy.” Fox News host Laura Ingraham posited thatVindman was “advising Ukraine while working inside the White House apparently against the president’s interest,” leading former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo to respond, “some people might call that espionage.”
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Story Continued BelowThe talking point has been condemned by members of both parties as a smear of a decorated war hero. House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney of Wyoming called it “shameful” on Tuesday. Vindman’s wife called her later that day to express her appreciation, and Cheney again denounced the smear, according to two people with knowledge of the call.Despite the bipartisan outcry, the insinuation made its way to the deposition room. At one point, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) began asking questions implying that Vindman had been working both sides, expressing alarm that Vindman “gave the Ukrainians guidance” and asking how many times he spoke with Ukrainian officials, one of the people in the room at the time said.“That’s literally part of Vindman’s job as the NSC’s Ukraine director,” this person said. “Zeldin was pretty quickly rebuked over that line of questioning by the Democrats.”
A spokesperson for Zeldin’s office denied that he had implied Vindman had dual loyalties. "This is just another reason why these transcripts should be immediately released," the spokesperson said. "You’d see just how badly your sources are misleading you about what’s actually happening behind closed doors."
Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe also challenged Vindman— who wrote in his opening statement that he was concerned by Trump’s July 25 call because he “did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen” — to show the investigators where the word “demand” appeared in the call record.
Vindman explained that he considered the request to implicitly be a demand, because it was the president of the most powerful country in the world asking for “a favor” from a much lesser world power, according to the people familiar with his testimony. He compared it to how he would take it, as an Army officer, if a general asked him to do something.
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Actual NSC Ukraine expert shut out of meetings to make room ...
https://www.dailykos.com › story › 2019/10/30 ›
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Testimony: Nunes acolyte misrepresented himself to Trump as ...
https://www.politico.com › news › 2019/10/30 › nunes-acolyte-misreprese...
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Missing: pretending | Must include: pretending
Former Nunes staffer fueled Trump's Ukrainian corruption ...
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Missing: pretending | Must include: pretending
The road to expulsion: Here's a timeline of Devin Nunes ...
https://www.alternet.org › News & Politics
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Wait... Devin Nunes installed a fake Ukraine expert in the WH to ...
https://www.democraticunderground.com › ...
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Oct 30, 2019 - 24 posts - 23 authors
Nunes is going back to the Ethics Committee — and no, they won’t be able to find any.
https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/trumps-right-wing-defenders-earn-the-deplorable-label-with-their-vicious-attack-on-the-latest-impeachment-witness/
no lnx
Trump’s right-wing defenders earn the ‘deplorable’ label with their vicious attack on the latest impeachment witness
Written by Nancy LeTourneau / Washington Monthly October 29, 2019
It was only a week ago that a chorus of people on both the left and right rose up to defend Tulsi Gabbard from Hillary Clinton’s statement that “she’s the favorite of the Russians” by pointing to Gabbard’s military service. The point was that someone who has served honorably should never have their loyalty to America questioned.
Trump’s enablers, however, are in a very difficult position right now. With every witness being deposed in the House impeachment inquiry, the picture of an American president pressuring a foreign government to smear his political opponents grows more clear. They are now the ones who are attacking the loyalty of someone who served honorably in the military.
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, is set to become the first current White House staffer to testify. Danny Hakim reports on what he will say in his prepared opening statement.
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.”…
“This would all undermine U.S. national security,” Colonel Vindman added, referring to Mr. Trump’s comments in the call.
Vindman didn’t think what Trump did was “proper” because it wasn’t. For those of us who deal in facts, that is the bottom line. But if your task is to defend the president, no matter what he does, your job is a little more difficult. That is why congressional Republicans have relied almost exclusively on criticizing the process of the impeachment inquiry rather than the substance of the testimony being provided.
With Vindman’s testimony looming, Trump’s enablers have decided that their only defense is to attack the messenger. But how do you do that for someone with this resume?
Alexander S. Vindman and his twin brother, Yevgeny, were 3 years old when they fled Ukraine with their father and grandmother, Jewish refugees with only their suitcases and $750, hoping for a better life in the United States.
In the 40 years since, he has become a scholar, diplomat, decorated lieutenant colonel in the United States Army and Harvard-educated Ukraine expert on the White House National Security Council.
If you are Sean Duffy, CNN’s latest Trump-enabling commentator, you question his loyalty to the United States.
Aaron Rupar
?
@atrupar
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."
Embedded video
It seems very clear that [Vindman] is incredibly concerned about Ukrainian defense. I don’t know about his concern [for] American policy, but his main mission was to make sure the Ukraine got those weapons. I understand it: We all have an affinity to our homeland where we came from. Like me, I’m sure that Vindman has the same affinity…He’s entitled to his opinion, he has an affinity, I think, for the Ukraine, he speaks Ukrainian, he came from the country, and he wants to make sure they’re safe and free.
It was actually Laura Ingraham who first leveled this kind of attack on Vindman Monday night. She zeroed in on this part of the report from Danny Hakim.
While Colonel Vindman’s concerns were shared by a number of other officials, some of whom have already testified, he was in a unique position. Because he emigrated from Ukraine along with his family when he was a child and is fluent in Ukrainian and Russian, Ukrainian officials sought advice from him about how to deal with Mr. Giuliani, though they typically communicated in English.
Ingraham twisted that into an accusation that Vindman was working as a double agent, saying “Here we have a U.S. national-security official who is advising Ukraine, while working inside the White House, apparently against the president’s interest.” Her guest, John Yoo, responded by saying “You know, some people might call that espionage.” Note the rather Freudian slip from Ingraham in accusing Vindman of working against “the president’s interest.” Even she can’t suggest that what Giuliani was doing in Ukraine was in the country’s national interest.
So is this a case of “both sides do it,” with both Clinton and Trump enablers questioning the loyalty of people who have served in the military? Not even close.
First of all, Clinton never questioned Gabbard’s loyalty. She merely pointed to something that was already in the public record: “she’s the favorite of the Russians.” In other words, there is evidence to support Clinton’s claims.
On the other hand, Trump’s enablers have zero evidence when it comes to their attacks on Vindman. Coming to this country as a 3 year-old refugee is the quintessential American story. Duffy’s charge is reminiscent of that time when Trump questioned the impartiality of a federal judge because of his Mexican heritage. Using someone’s ethnicity or country of origin as a way to question their loyalty to this country is the definition of what we mean when we use the word “deplorable.”
At the time that Vindman was attempting to advise Ukrainians about the pressure they were getting from Giuliani, the official public position of the United States was to assist that country in their defense against Russian incursion. Giuliani has made it abundantly clear that his efforts were to assist his client, Donald Trump, not to promote our national interests. So you can understand why the Ukrainians were confused and went to a trusted source for guidance.
In the end, military service is no defense against charges of criminality or corruption. Anyone who doubts that should simply look at what transpired with Michael Flynn. Just as with any other American, it is the facts that matter. The smears against Lt. Col. Vindman aren’t deplorable because he served in the military. They deserve that characterization because they are devoid of evidence and are therefore nothing more than an attempt to attack the messenger.
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