My Very, Very Careful Opinion of Lt. Colonel Vindman
Nov 19, 2019
RUSH: Now to the hearings today. The interesting thing about the hearings today we had two witnesses who actually heard the July 25th phone call. These are said to be star witnesses, Jennifer Williams from Mike Pence’s office, but she’s actually State Department, and Lieutenant Colonel Vindman.
And what has happened with Lieutenant Colonel Vindman today is fascinating because it is clear to me, since these people only have their opinions to offer, since they only have their assumptions make, I’m gonna do the same thing. And I’m gonna tell you my opinion is Vindman is the source for the whistleblower, and it was almost exposed today. Adam Schiff jumped in.
People who know what’s going on watching this understand that Schiff was practically stripped bare today on all the lies he’s been telling about not knowing who the whistleblower is. If he doesn’t know who the whistleblower is, how can he possibly prevent somebody from saying the name of the whistleblower?
Vindman made the mistake of saying that he informed two people who were not on the call about the call. Because you know what’s also clear? What’s also clear is that Lieutenant Colonel Vindman in his role has been acting more like a supporter or a defender or of a diplomat for Ukraine and not the United States. Now, don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking treason or any of that. Don’t misunderstand. I’m gonna play the sound bites and show you what I mean as the program unfolds.
But Vindman seems like his intent has always been to protect Ukraine from Donald Trump. Really all we have here is a bunch of career people who think they make foreign policy. And Trump has run around them. He’s done end runs around them. He’s making foreign policy without them, and their noses are out of joint, and they’re coming forth and trying to offer other reasons to explain why their noses are out of joint. But that’s all this is.
It’s just the fact that a bunch of career diplomats and aides to diplomats have been left out of American foreign policy in Ukraine as conducted by Donald Trump. And their way of getting back it him is this. Now, John Ratcliffe just, right before the program started — the congressman from Texas — made a great point. He said that when this whole impeachment thing began, it was about a quid pro quo, that Trump somehow had demanded a quid pro quo from the president of Ukraine for aid to Ukraine.
And the quid pro quo was that the president of Ukraine, the newly elected one, must conduct an investigation of Vice President Biden and his incompetent, unqualified son, Hunter Biden. The Democrats went out… Do not doubt me. This is true. The Democrats went out when this wasn’t playing out the way they hoped it would with the public, they went out, they convened a focus group, and they found out that “quid pro quo†didn’t rattle any cages.
There aren’t a whole lot of Americans who’ve been taught Latin anymore. So they don’t know what quid pro quo really is. As such, it didn’t carry any impact. So Pelosi, last week, changed the entire narrative and said that Trump is now being impeached for “bribery,†because in the focus group that the Democrats did, they found out the word “bribery†and the word “extortion†has much more impact in describing illegal or criminal behavior than “quid pro quo†does.
So Pelosi is out now all of a sudden the end of last week and through the weekend claiming Trump is gonna be impeached for bribery. So John Ratcliffe asked the two witnesses, “Have you ever described President Trump’s actions as ‘bribery’?†Both of them said no. “In any of your testimony behind closed doors or here today, have you ever described Trump’s behavior as ‘bribery’?†No. Then Ratcliffe put stacks of paper on the desk.
He said, “These are transcripts from all of the closed-door depositions that have taken place. There isn’t one witness — in thousands of interviews, thousands of questions, thousands of answers. There isn’t one witness who has used the word ‘bribery’ to denote what President Trump has done.†These two witnesses today, the star witnesses both said they’ve never used the word “bribery.†It has never been used.
Not one person who has testified either in public or in the closed-door sessions has ever used the word “bribery†in discussing whatever it is that Trump did that’s so bad. The word “bribery†was used, however, one time in the private depositions, and it was used in reference to Joe Biden. So Ratcliffe says (summarized), “What the hell is going on here? We’re gonna impeach the president over something not a single witness has accused him of? Not a single witness has used the term or referenced the term or even defined the term.â€
He said, “We’re gonna have articles of impeachment prepared. We’re gonna send this over to Judiciary Committee; there’s more Democrats there, so this is gonna pass. How can the American people possibly follow this? This thing starts out with a quid pro quo and whatever else the Democrats wanted to say, and since that wasn’t playing well, they focus grouped. They change it now to ‘bribery’ and before that ‘extortion’.â€
Also today, ladies and gentlemen, Alexander Vindman… (sigh) You know, as everybody saying, “You gotta be very, very careful in talking about Vindman because she’s wearing the uniform, he’s decorated.†(sigh) You just gotta be very careful. And the Wall Street Journal. Wall Street Journal has a story today that says that Vindman’s family and Vindman himself may be relocated to an Army base to protect him against threats to his safety.
Alexander Vindman, all of these witnesses are the safest people in the country today. If a single hair on a single head of one of these witnesses is touched? (Snort!) I shudder to think. Vindman’s under no danger, but here comes the story in the Wall Street Journal. (impression) “Because of his testimony today, Vindman and his family seriously being thought to be relocated to the safety and security of an Army base where Trump thugs could not possibly get to them.â€
That’s the point of the story.
Yet there hasn’t been a single threat. There hasn’t been a single hack of any of Vindman’s computers. So it’s all part of the grand illusion. Anyway, Vindman said today that in his opinion Hunter Biden didn’t seem to be qualified to serve on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, while his father, Joe Biden, was vice president. You’re not gonna see anybody highlight that in the Drive-By Media, but Vindman said Hunter Biden didn’t seem to be qualified.
Now, we’re gonna go to the sound bites. Let me take a break here. We’re gonna get to the sound bites. Devin Nunes will lead off. He had a tremendous opening statement today. And as a point of preparation for the point Nunes was attempting to make today was to suggest that it is Vindman who ran out of the room after the July 25th phone call and called his buddy Eric Ciaramella and leaked the details of the phone call to him, and then it was Ciaramella who ran over to Schiff.
That is the story, that is what happened, and it is my opinion — and my great assumption — that that is exactly the role that Vindman has played here. “But, Rush! But, Rush! He’s denied it.†No, he hasn’t denied it. He mentioned that he told two people outside the National Security Council, two people who were not on the call. He told two other people about it. He identified one person as George Kent, the bow-tied ambassador who testified last week.
The other person — and Vindman started stumbling around, and then Schiff stepped in. (summarized exchange) “You can’t… You can’t say that! You can’t answer that. I’m stepping in here. This is a trick. This is a trick. You’re trying to get him to identify the whistleblower,†and Nunes said, “Mr. Chairman, you don’t know who the whistleblower is — you said — and Lieutenant Colonel Vindman said he doesn’t know who the whistleblower is. How can anybody possibly identify the whistleblower here if you don’t know who it is?
“He could give the name of anybody he wants, give any name he wants and nobody would know it’s the whistleblower or not ’cause you don’t know who it is and Vindman doesn’t know who it is.†And then Vindman’s lawyer, said, “He’s not gonna answer. He’s not gonna gonna fuel the ruling of the chairperson. He’s not gonna answer. He’s not gonna answer that.†And then Nunes said, “Well, if he wants to take the Fifth Amendment…â€
And the lawyer (sputtering) “There’s no Fifth Amendment issue here! He’s just following the ruling of the chair. We’re not gonna sit there and identify the whistleblower.†So Vindman has acknowledged that he told you somebody, quote, “from the intelligence community.†Well, that’s the whistleblower. Eric Ciaramella, is CIA. So in my humble opinion — and it’s just my opinion and it’s only my assumption — and, of course, I could be called as a witness based on this because that’s what these witnesses have. It is my opinion based on learned knowledge following these hearings that Vindman is the original leaker and that Vindman told Ciaramella (who is the whistleblower) who then went over and set all of this up with Adam Schiff.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Now, we must be careful with Lieutenant Colonel Vindman. That’s the refrain that was shared with everybody today before these hearings began. It was a warning to the Republicans. It was a warning to people like me in the so-called conserve media. “You gotta be very careful with Lieutenant Colonel Vindman. You gotta be respectful. You can’t call him names. You can’t claim that he’s dishonest. You can’t call him political. You gotta be real careful with Lieutenant Colonel Vindman.â€
The same people saying this are the very same people who set out to destroy General Petraeus in 2007 and 2008, including Hillary Clinton. Remember all the ads the Democrats ran, and Harry Reid was out calling General Petraeus “General Betrayus.†They accused him of lying before congressional committees even before his testimony began. This was all having to do with the Iraq war and what was to become known as the surge to finally see victory in Iraq. Petraeus was gonna be brought up and he was gonna testify.
MoveOn.org was running ads all over the internet and in newspapers, “General Betrayus.†So it was clear you didn’t have to be careful with General Petreaus. When the left wants to destroy somebody in the media, why, they can go ahead and do it and everybody has to stand aside and let them. When the left wants to protect somebody in the military, you can’t say anything. “You gotta be real careful with Lieutenant Colonel Vindman!â€
Does anybody remember any concerns for the safety of Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North back during the Iran-Contra hearings? Oh, yeah. Lieutenant Colonel — as the prosecutor pounced it, “Colonel Nawt.†He was a New Yorker. I forget his name. (impression) “Colonel Nawt, did you…? You were shredding documents. I one here,†and North said, “What, I didn’t get them all I missed one?†(chuckling) Anyway, nobody was concerned for the safety of Lieutenant Colonel North.
Nobody was concerned for the safety of General Betrayus. When the Democrat wants to target somebody in the military, they do. John Kerry! It was free and clear for him to accuse Marines in Haditha of terrorizing Iraqi women and children. Nobody had to go easy on the military, uniformed military personnel when the Democrats are seeking to destroy Republicans. But with Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, “We have to be very, very, very careful.â€