Fox News hosts were quick to raise suspicions about the prepared testimony of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who has served on the National Security Council since 2018, in the hours following its Monday night release.
Vindman’s testimony is expected to recount how President Trump’s now-famous July call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky spurred him to alert a top White House lawyer twice about his concerns. Vindman plans to tell House investigators on Tuesday that he overheard U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland — a key player in the Ukraine pressure campaign — pressure Ukrainian officials to launch investigations into the 2016 election and the Bidens for the purpose of setting up a Trump-Zelensky meeting.
“Fox & Friends” hosts weighed in on Vindman’s incoming congressional testimony Tuesday morning by drawing attention to his “affinity to the Ukrainian people.”
“So [Vindman] has got a purple heart and he is from the Soviet Union,” co-host Brian Kilmeade said. “He immigrated here and has an affinity to the Ukrainian people.”
Kilmeade, reading a section of Vindman’s prepared remarks where he said “I did not think it was proper that a foreign government to investigate a U.S. citizen,” pointed out that the White House official claims that he complained twice.
“Once in early July, once after the phone call. But what the President is trying to pursue, seemingly, is what happened in 2016,” Kilmeade said. “And it just so happens the person who is a candidate for President was in charge of corruption in 2016 for the U.S. government. So the President has some questions about the Ukraine, which I assume he will soon present that argument.”
Watch “Fox & Friends” hosts’ remarks below:
Kilmeade: Vindman "has an affinity to the Ukrainian people." pic.twitter.com/dVoh1vH87t
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) October 29, 2019
The “Fox and Friends” segment wasn’t the only one to raise questions about Vindman.
Right as Vindman’s prepared remarks were released Monday night, former Justice Department official John Yoo cried “espionage” on Laura Ingraham’s show.
After Ingraham called attention to the “buried” detail in a New York Times report Monday night that “Ukrainian officials sought advice” from Vindman “about how to deal with Giuliani” due to his fluency in both Ukrainian and Russian, Yoo said that he found the detail “astounding” and that “some people might call that espionage.”
Watch Yoo’s remarks below:
John Yoo: " I find that astounding. Some people might call that espionage." pic.twitter.com/a5457TqLYA
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) October 29, 2019
