Listen to this brainless cow and her fellow idiots on Fox News attacking Col Alexander Vindman because he dared honor a congressional subpoena and testify, rather than covering Trump's rump. Below is just a small sample of this career military hero's resume. This is new low even for FOX news, attacking an American war hero simply for telling the truth!
Vindman graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1998; he received a commission into the Army's infantry branch in 1999[4] and later received a master's degree from Harvard University in Russian, Eastern Europe and Central Asian studies.[1]
Career
Volodymyr Zelensky with Alexander Vindman (far left) and U.S. delegation
After graduating from Binghamton University in 1998, Vindman joined the United States Army and became a career Army officer.[1] He completed the infantry officer basic course (IOBC) at Fort Benning in 1999 and deployed the next year to South Korea, where he commanded infantry and an anti-armor platoon.[1] In addition to overseas deployments to South Korea and Germany, Vindman is a combat veteran; he sustained an injury from a roadside bomb in October 2004[5], for which he received a Purple Heart.[1] He was promoted to the rank of major in 2008,[6] and to lieutenant colonel in September 2015.[7]
During his Army career, Vindman earned the Ranger Tab, Combat Infantryman Badge, Expert Infantryman Badge and Parachutists Badge.[8]
Vindman graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1998; he received a commission into the Army's infantry branch in 1999[4] and later received a master's degree from Harvard University in Russian, Eastern Europe and Central Asian studies. He served multiple tours of military duty overseas, and was awarded the purple heart (among his many other awards for bravery and valor) for his wounds in defence of America.
Career
Beginning in 2008, Vindman became a Foreign Area Officer specializing in Eurasia. In this capacity he served in the U.S. embassies in Kyiv, Ukraine and Moscow, Russia. Returning to Washington, D.C. he was then a politico-military affairs officer focused on Russia for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Vindman served on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon from September 2015 to July 2018.[9] In July 2018, Vindman accepted an assignment with the National Security Council.[10] In his role on the NSC, Vindman became part of the U.S. delegation at the inauguration of the Ukraine's newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelensky. The five member delegation, led by Rick Perry, United States Secretary of Energy, also included Kurt Volker, then US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, Gordon Sondland, United States Ambassador to the European Union, and Joseph Pennington, then Acting Chargé d'Affaires.
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@mchill saidHow does any of this give him the ability to change what Trump said in the phone call?
Listen to this brainless cow and her fellow idiots on Fox News attacking Col Alexander Vindman because he dared honor a congressional subpoena and testify, rather than covering Trump's rump. Below is just a small sample of this career military hero's resume. This is new low even for FOX news, attacking an American war hero simply for telling the truth!
https://www.youtube ...[text shortened]... nited States Ambassador to the European Union, and Joseph Pennington, then Acting Chargé d'Affaires.
@mott-the-hoople saidYes, all Trump said was, "I'll give you cash and a White House visit and you'll give me Biden."
How does any of this give him the ability to change what Trump said in the phone call?
@mott-the-hoople saidThe phone call was the middle of the conspiracy, not the beginning or end. Vindman's testimony corroborated that of Fiona Hill and Ambassador Taylor and pushes Trump's crony Sondland to the realm of perjury:
How does any of this give him the ability to change what Trump said in the phone call?
"The West Wing meetings on July 10 increasingly appear to mark the moment of detonation of the Ukraine crisis inside the White House, though by then Bolton, Vindman, former White House Russia adviser Fiona Hill and others had become suspicious that Trump was pursuing a secret agenda.
Among the early troubling signs were the abrupt removal of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch; public statements by Trump’s lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, making clear that he was pushing Ukraine to revive investigations that would hurt Democrats; and the refusal of Sondland and others to coordinate their interactions with Ukraine with regional experts at the White House and the State Department.
At the same time, officials in Kyiv were struggling to decipher conflicting signals from the Trump administration after Zelensky’s May election win. Acting U.S. ambassador William B. Taylor Jr. sought to reassure the incoming Ukrainian government that it had the full support of the United States, while Sondland and others, including the special adviser on Ukraine, Kurt Volker, were putting murky conditions on the relationship.
In a conversation with Taylor and Sondland, Volker said he planned to use a July 2 meeting in Toronto with Zelensky to tell Ukraine’s president that “Trump wanted to see rule of law, transparency, but also, specifically, cooperation on investigations to ‘get to the bottom of things,’ ” Taylor said in his testimony this month.
The latter phrase appears to refer to Trump’s desire to have Ukraine pursue investigations that would help him politically, including by lending legitimacy to conspiratorial claims Trump has embraced that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election and has hidden evidence that would implicate Kyiv.
It was against this backdrop that two of Zelensky’s senior advisers arrived at the White House on July 10: Andriy Yermak, who frequently engaged with Sondland and other U.S. diplomats; and Oleksandr Danyliuk, the head of Ukraine’s national security and defense council.
The two were ushered into a meeting in Bolton’s office in the West Wing along with Sondland, Volker, Hill, Vindman and others, according to witness accounts. The American team was working through standard U.S.-Ukraine talking points, including the United States’ desire to see Kyiv crack down on corruption, when Sondland went off script.
Sondland turned the conversation away from ongoing corruption probes to reviving specific investigations that were important to Trump, according to testimony from Hill and Vindman. Though it was cryptic, they understood Sondland’s remark to reflect Trump’s desire to see Ukraine train its investigative resources on an energy company, Burisma, that had hired Hunter Biden, the former vice president’s son, to serve as a board member for about five years.
Bolton was so alarmed by the exchange that he ended the meeting abruptly and ordered those gathered out of his office, officials said. As the group filed out, Sondland instructed the Ukrainians to follow him to the Ward Room, a space in the basement of the West Wing used for meetings by national security officials.
After huddling briefly with Hill, Bolton instructed her to follow the group downstairs and monitor Sondland. There are conflicting accounts of what happened as the smaller group reconvened.
Sondland has testified that he didn’t know of any Biden connection in Trump’s demands for a Burisma investigation until much later, after the allegations in the whistleblower complaint became known. He has also said that no White House officials ever expressed any concern to him about his efforts to push Ukraine to commit to the Burisma probe. His lawyer declined to comment Tuesday after the release of Vindman’s opening statement.
Sondland’s account is contradicted by statements from Hill and Vindman. Hill testified that she entered the Ward Room as the follow-on meeting was already underway and heard Sondland say the word “Burisma” as he resumed pressing the Ukrainians to pursue certain investigations. She then ordered that meeting to an immediate close.
Vindman said that Sondland used the downstairs meeting to press for “investigations into the 2016 election, the Bidens and Burisma.” Vindman said he then confronted Sondland, saying that “his statements were inappropriate, that the request to investigate Biden and his son had nothing to do with national security, and that such investigations were not something the [National Security Council] was going to get involved in or push.”
Hill then returned upstairs to relay what she had witnessed to Bolton, who exploded, saying, “I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up.” Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, had met with Sondland on several occasions to discuss Ukraine.
Bolton directed Hill to report what she had witnessed to John Eisenberg, the top lawyer for the National Security Council. Hill spoke briefly with Eisenberg on July 10, but because the attorney was pressed for time they did not finish their discussion until the next day. Hill was accompanied by Wells Griffith, an NSC official responsible for energy policy, who is also being sought as a witness by House investigators.
Vindman said that after the Ward Room meeting, he “reported my concerns to the NSC’s lead counsel.”
Despite the heated reactions by Bolton and others to the July 10 meetings, it is not clear whether he, Eisenberg or others took significant steps afterward to intervene and prevent the campaign to pressure Ukraine from proceeding.
Eight days later, at Trump’s direction, Mulvaney ordered the Office of Management and Budget to place a hold on $391 million in security aid to Ukraine meant to help the country fend off Russian aggression.
A week after the aid was held up, Trump spoke with Zelensky by phone, emphasizing U.S. generosity toward Ukraine, complaining about a lack of reciprocation and issuing his request for “a favor though.” Trump proceeded to push Ukraine to investigate Biden, Burisma and the 2016 conspiracy claims he had embraced."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/two-volatile-meetings-at-the-white-house-have-become-central-to-the-impeachment-inquiry/ar-AAJysco
This is bombshell testimony none of which has been explicitly denied by the White House. The State Department and OMB are both trying to block testimony by their officials and refusing to provide relevant documents which will, in all likelihood, further show the illegal scope of the conspiracy and confirm that the Congressionally appropriated funds were withheld as a way to pressure the Ukrainians.
@no1marauder saidAll this is well and good, but.......have any of you noticed what the Dem presidential candidates are planning to do to our 240 year old country? You best put your energies where they might do the most good, don’t you think?
The phone call was the middle of the conspiracy, not the beginning or end. Vindman's testimony corroborated that of Fiona Hill and Ambassador Taylor and pushes Trump's crony Sondland to the realm of perjury:
"The West Wing meetings on July 10 increasingly appear to mark the moment of detonation of the Ukraine crisis inside the White House, though by then Bolton, Vindma ...[text shortened]... nfirm that the Congressionally appropriated funds were withheld as a way to pressure the Ukrainians.
And none of these people will ever go to jail, unfortunately.
@handyandy saidGoogle is not showing that, can you link those words for us? Many thanks.
Yes, all Trump said was, "I'll give you cash and a White House visit and you'll give me Biden."
@mott-the-hoople saidYou clearly have a deep understanding of this situation. 😏
How does any of this give him the ability to change what Trump said in the phone call?
It is also worth noting that while Hill and Vindman were part of the NSC staff specifically assigned to Russia, Ukraine and Eastern European affairs, Sondland's position as Ambassador to the EU had nothing whatsoever to do with Ukraine, which is not an EU member. Thus, it is again clear that he was Trump's personal representative pursuing Trump's agenda and not that of US foreign policy.
@averagejoe1 saidYou want people to go to jail because they have different political beliefs than you?
All this is well and good, but.......have any of you noticed what the Dem presidential candidates are planning to do to our 240 year old country? You best put your energies where they might do the most good, don’t you think?
And none of these people will ever go to jail, unfortunately.
@no1marauder saidSorry, I wasn’t clear. I’m just predicting that all these people like clapper Brennan McNab Strozk and girlfriend, Comey, Hillary......for all that they have done, none will do time. Guilty people. Didn’t mean ‘people who are not like me.’ Sorry for confusion .
You want people to go to jail because they have different political beliefs than you?
Another bombshell:
Vindman testified that the transcript of the Ukraine call omitted key phrases, including a reference to Burisma, and that he tried to get it restored. https://nytimes.com/2019/10/29/us/politics/alexander-vindman-trump-ukraine.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share via
@NYTimes
https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1189345583036796930?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Of course, what the White House released wasn't a transcript as it clearly states on its face. But many people have wondered about the ellipses in the document which are placed at very critical points. If Vindman is telling the truth, this is another component of the cover up and the full, unredacted transcript of the call should be released immediately.
EDIT: "CAUTION: A Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation.· (TELCON) is not a verbatim transcript of a discussion. The text in this document records the notes and recollections of Situation Room Duty "Officers and-NSC policy staff assigned to listen and memorialize the conversation in written form
as the conversation takes place."
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Unclassified09.2019.pdf
EDIT2: Just to be as cautious as possible, I should say "IF this report is accurate and IF Vindman is telling the truth" etc. etc. etc.
@averagejoe1 saidAnd what have the Republicans already done to it?
All this is well and good, but.......have any of you noticed what the Dem presidential candidates are planning to do to our 240 year old country? You best put your energies where they might do the most good, don’t you think?
And none of these people will ever go to jail, unfortunately.
And please don't say "they made it GREAT again".
