Ukraine native Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (U.S. Army Ret.), the star witness behind the first failed Trump impeachment plot, traveled to his home country this month to offer his expertise to U.S. and Ukraine officials in the war against Russia. Notably, Vindman has not said he picked up a weapon to defend the country of his birth.
While in Ukraine, Vindman still has fantasies of getting President Trump, telling NBC News reporter Josh Lederman after the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida that Trump may end up in an “orange jumpsuit” over his handling of classified information, even speculating Trump gave nuclear secrets to other countries.
“News: Ret. Lt. Col. @AVindman is back in Ukraine getting a first-hand look at Russia’s war.@NBCNews spoke exclusively with him – He tells me Biden should visit Ukraine and says Trump’s handling of classified info may end with him in an “orange jumpsuit””
News: Ret. Lt. Col. @AVindman is back in Ukraine getting a first-hand look at Russia’s war.@NBCNews spoke exclusively with him – He tells me Biden should visit Ukraine and says Trump’s handling of classified info may end with him in an “orange jumpsuit” pic.twitter.com/LPdBmPfdqc
— Josh Lederman (@JoshNBCNews) August 16, 2022
Lederman said Vindman is critical of the Biden administration for not doing enough to help Ukraine. Vindman called for a major escalation of U.S. support including providing Ukraine with fighter aircraft, more long range artillery and designating Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, “.@AVindman’s advice to Biden: “Take the courageous decisions now. Don’t wait 4, 5 months to offer HIMARS.””
.@AVindman‘s advice to Biden: “Take the courageous decisions now. Don’t wait 4, 5 months to offer HIMARS.”
More from our exclusive interview in Kyiv on @MSNBC:https://t.co/EULBdYrlAr
— Josh Lederman (@JoshNBCNews) August 16, 2022
Video report:
Lederman: “Of course, Lieutenant Colonel Vindman also had a front row seat in the White House to the way that President Trump and other top officials handled classified information, and I asked him about his concerns about Trump possessing some of those top U.S. national security secrets at Mar-a-Lago. This is what he said.”
Vindman: “It’s hard to fathom the kinds of risks that were in there. We’re talking about where our nuclear stockpile might be, how effective it is and this guy keeps it with him because he thinks it’s cool. ‘Oh look, I’ve got like a box full of nuclear secrets there that I can peer into because it’s fun.’ That’s his callousness with regards to national security. It’s um…”
Lederman: “Do you worry he could share the secrets with other countries?”
Vindman: “I think that, I think that is a very legitimate concern.”
Lederman: “He also told me that there is a direct thread between President Trump’s first impeachment and the war that Russia is now currently waging in Ukraine. He said Ukraine would be in a far better position to defend itself militarily if the former president had not undermined Ukraine’s national security, Mika.”
Apparently Lederman did not remind Vindman that Trump was the only president in the 21st Century on whose watch Russia did not invade any country.
Vindman posted his observations on the war to Twitter along with some photos.
“I’ve been to Bucha and Irpin and seen the evidence of Russia’s atrocities firsthand. So many homes, schools, and hospitals destroyed and civilians murdered just to terrorize the population. But the people of Ukraine have an indomitable spirit and will to live as a free people…Russia has taken greater losses. But both have lost a generation of junior leaders. Ukraine needs help. They need more fires, more munitions, more strike capabilities, & more logistical support. Absent greater aid Russia can snatch a kind of victory from the jaws of defeat…A terrible outcome would be a long war with a form of Russian victory. It would be a human tragedy. +The West would encounter increasing risks of spillover & confrontation. Moreover, the strategic environment would be disastrous for the US with threats emerging from all corners.”
I’ve been to Bucha and Irpin and seen the evidence of Russia’s atrocities firsthand. So many homes, schools, and hospitals destroyed and civilians murdered just to terrorize the population. But the people of Ukraine have an indomitable spirit and will to live as a free people. https://t.co/MFMBeWx7zs pic.twitter.com/VGZmC5lUkq
— Alexander S. Vindman (@AVindman) August 16, 2022
A terrible outcome would be a long war with a form of Russian victory. It would be a human tragedy. +The West would encounter increasing risks of spillover & confrontation. Moreover, the strategic environment would be disastrous for the US with threats emerging from all corners.
— Alexander S. Vindman (@AVindman) August 16, 2022
I’m in Ukraine in a war zone because I think I can help. 1) I’m meeting with senior military and political leadership to better understand how this war is going and how it might end to better advise leaders and the public. I think you can only do that when are on the ground.
2) This war is the most important geopolitical event of the last 20 & maybe the next 20 years. It’s largely out of the consciousness of the U.S. public & that’s dangerous. Our politicians should know that we still care about what happens in Ukraine. I’m doing media to remind us.
3) Ukraine needs help. I am trying to get the repair, sustainment, and training for western equipment moved into Ukraine. Having it in Poland and Romania is not good enough. This country is too big and it takes too long to move things. There are plenty of was to mitigate risks.
I’m in Ukraine in a war zone because I think I can help.
1) I’m meeting with senior military and political leadership to better understand how this war is going and how it might end to better advise leaders and the public. I think you can only do that when are on the ground.
— Alexander S. Vindman (@AVindman) August 16, 2022
3) Ukraine needs help. I am trying to get the repair, sustainment, and training for western equipment moved into Ukraine. Having it in Poland and Romania is not good enough. This country is too big and it takes too long to move things. There are plenty of was to mitigate risks.
— Alexander S. Vindman (@AVindman) August 16, 2022
Vindman bragged during the 2019 House impeachment investigation of Trump that Ukraine was begging him to be their defense minister (excerpt via RFE/RL):
The U.S. National Security Council’s (NSC) expert for Ukraine has told the Democratic-led House of Representatives impeachment hearing he was offered the position of Ukraine’s defense minister three times, a new revelation that came out as Republicans tried to undermine his key testimony.
Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman told the hearing on November 19 that Ukraine’s then-national security chief, Oleksandr Danylyuk, asked him if he wanted to become the country’s new defense minister when he visited Kyiv in May as part of the U.S. delegation attending President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s inauguration.
Vindman, who was born in the Soviet republic of Ukraine and speaks Ukrainian, served in the U.S. Army, including a stint in Iraq. He said he had no interest in the position and wasn’t even sure if Danylyuk was serious about the offer.
“Every single time, I dismissed it. Upon returning, I notified my chain of command and the appropriate counterintelligence folks about the offer,” he told the hearing during his four-hour testimony.
Vindman is an important witness in the impeachment hearing because he is one of the few witnesses to testify who listened in on the July 25 call between President Donald Trump and Zelenskiy that is at the heart of the inquiry.
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