Here we go again.
Although President Trump has yet to tweet his own thoughts on Tuesday’s public impeachment hearings, the White House attacked one of its own officials — Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who still works for the White House on the National Security Council.
During the public impeachment testimonies of Vindman and Vice President Mike Pence aide Jennifer Williams, the official White House Twitter account sent out graphic of a quote from last month’s closed-door testimony of Tim Morrison, the senior director for European affairs at the National Security Council, aimed at Vindman.
In his closed-door testimony last month, Morrison confirmed that there was a quid pro quo associated with Trump’s decision to withhold military aid from Ukraine, but that he “was not concerned that anything illegal was discussed” during the now-infamous Juyl 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Tim Morrison, Alexander Vindman's former boss, testified in his deposition that he had concerns about Vindman's judgment. pic.twitter.com/xwHOt4bsHS
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) November 19, 2019
Trump, on the other hand, had a more muted response to Vindman’s testimony while speaking to reporters during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday.
“I watched him for a little while this morning and I think he…I’m going to let people make their own determination,” Trump said. “But I don’t know Vindman. I never heard of him.”
Shortly after his Cabinet meeting remarks, the President also retweeted a video of Vindman’s testimony posted by White House social media director Dan Scavino, which seemed to suggest that Vindman has dual loyalty to Ukraine. The video showed Vindman saying that he was offered a defense minister position with Ukraine three times.
The White House’s Tuesday tweet aimed at Vindman comes just four days after Trump personally attacked ousted Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch during her public testimony, drawing immediate backlash and accusations of witness tampering.
Vindman asserted his credibility following a tense exchange with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) during the hearing Tuesday. Morrison is set to testify later Tuesday alongside former Ukraine envoy Kurt Volker as a witness who Republicans called to testify in the impeachment inquiry.
While Trump himself hasn’t yet gone after Vindman Tuesday, the President himself previously railed against Vindman, Williams and top Ukraine diplomat Bill Taylor in his tweets by baselessly accusing them of being “Never Trumpers” in an effort to discredit their testimonies on the Ukraine pressure campaign.
On Monday night and earlier Tuesday, Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Brian Kilmeade advised Trump to refrain from tweeting during the public impeachment testimonies.
