Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., has defended retired Army Lt. Col Alexander Vindman from the “treason” allegation leveled at him by Telsa CEO Elon Musk.
“Message to Elon Musk - The Vindman family embodies patriotism and public service. You know nothing about either,” Kaine posted Friday on Musk’s X platform.
On Wednesday, Musk accused Vindman of “treason” and has promised he “will pay” for his actions. “Vindman is on the payroll of Ukrainian oligarchs and has committed treason against the United States, for which he will pay the appropriate penalty,” Musk posted on his X platform.
Musk was responding to a post where Vindman accused the tech giant of divulging state secrets to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the primary reason he supports Trump is because Putin ordered him to do so. “Clearly Putin has a type. He likes narcissists and egomaniacs that he knows as a case officer can easily pander to manipulate, to do his dirty work. Russia has been using different levers — whether that’s corruption networks, in this case, its influencers like Donald Trump, like Elon Musk, to kind of sow discord,” Vindman said in the video.
Vindman was the catalyst and star witness for President-elect Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial when he was present as a member of the National Security Council to Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump sought to pause military aid to Ukraine until an investigation into President Joe Biden's son Hunter could be conducted over his alleged corruption.
In October, The Wall Street Journal revealed that Musk and Putin had been in regular communication since 2022, touching base on personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions. “It’s possible that some of that is seeping through,” Vindman said. “He’s [Putin] been using the richest man in the world to do his bidding. In some cases, that’s encouraging him probably to support Donald Trump.”
Vindman responded to Musk with an X post of his own: “Elon, here you go again making false and completely unfounded accusations without providing any specifics. That’s the kind of response one would expect from a conspiracy theorist. What oligarch? What treason?
"Let me help you out with the facts: I don’t take/have never taken money from any money from oligarchs Ukrainian or other otherwise.”