Several officials have publicly defended the colonel since his testimony emerged. He now serves on the National Security Council. He met Colonel Vindman there in 2013, he said.Ĭolonel Vindman referred to himself as a patriot during closed-door testimony in the House last month, and said he had reported concerns about the president and his inner circle’s conduct out of a “sense of duty.” The colonel received a Purple Heart after being injured by an improvised explosive device in Iraq. Hickman, who said he was disabled from combat injuries and living in Florida, said he had helped manage joint exercises in Germany involving United States and Russian soldiers. He has also tweeted strident pro-Trump, anti-Democratic themes, writing, “It’s incredible how evil the Democrat party is.” A week before going public with his story about Colonel Vindman, he retweeted a Trump supporter urging: “STOP IMPEACHMENT! STOP THIS COUP!” “I do think it’s actually been pretty accurate on predicting a lot of things,” he said. Hickman said he did not believe in QAnon but found it “interesting.” A review of his past tweets found more than 100 in which he recirculated or commented on QAnon-related theories, including hoaxes about Satanism and pedophilia, and until recently he had the hashtag #Q in his profile. Hickman, a former lieutenant colonel whose service record indicates he served in Afghanistan and earned a Purple Heart, at some point took an interest in QAnon. ![]() Through his lawyer, Michael Volkov, Colonel Vindman declined to comment. Hickman said he took the major aside and reprimanded him. The attack emerged late on Halloween night, when a retired Army officer, Jim Hickman, claimed he had overheard Colonel Vindman - a major at the time who was chatting with Russian soldiers during a military exercise - laugh “about Americans not being educated or worldly” and talking up “Obama & globalism to the point of uncomfortable.” Mr. But by questioning the colonel’s loyalties, partisans who are spreading the story uncritically to millions of Americans leave the impression he is somehow not to be believed. It is hard to discern how the six-year-old comments attributed to the officer affect the veracity of his testimony on Capitol Hill, which aligns with that of numerous other witnesses. The president and his supporters, including his family, have used Twitter to frame his defense, torch his Democratic inquisitors and try to undermine public officials, like Colonel Vindman, who have testified against him. Trump’s team and little formal guidance to surrogates - Twitter has become the Trump war room. While the White House has scrambled to mount an organized response to the House impeachment inquiry - there is no consistent message from Mr. posted about Colonel Vindman, who had testified that he was concerned about the United States’ linking of military aid to Ukraine with an investigation of Mr. ![]() “Anyone who’s been watching for the past three years is not at all surprised that this would be their ‘star witness,’” Donald Jr. Trump promoted to his four million followers. Trump’s son and chief defender, Donald Trump Jr., driving it through conservative social media circles and onto pro-Trump websites, whose stories the younger Mr. That accusation was unsubstantiated and has been rejected by some of the colonel’s colleagues.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |