Trump Accuser Vindman Suggests That Musk Provided State Secrets to Putin
“Elon Musk has access to state secrets. … And he [Putin] has been using the richest man in the world to do his bidding.”
You may recall “Ukraine expert” Alexander Vindman, Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) star witness during President-elect Donald Trump’s first House Impeachment Inquiry. That’s Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman to you. In his capacity at the time as the Director of National Security Affairs at the National Security Council, Vindman was a direct witness to the now-infamous July 25, 2019, phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He was so “troubled” by the call that he reported his concerns to the NSC’s lead counsel. And we all remember what came next.
Following the Senate’s acquittal of Trump in February 2020, Vindman was fired from the NSC and escorted out of the White House.
At any rate, on Oct. 25, the Wall Street Journal reported:
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a linchpin of U.S. space efforts, has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022.
The discussions, confirmed by several current and former U.S., European and Russian officials, touch on personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions.
At one point, Putin asked the billionaire to avoid activating his Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favor to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, said two people briefed on the request.
Musk has emerged this year as a crucial supporter of Donald Trump’s election campaign, and could find a role in a Trump administration should he win. While the U.S. and its allies have isolated Putin in recent years, Musk’s dialogue could signal re-engagement with the Russian leader, and reinforce Trump’s expressed desire to cut a deal over major fault lines such as the war in Ukraine.
At the same time, the contacts also raise potential national-security concerns among some in the current administration, given Putin’s role as one of America’s chief adversaries.
Vindman appeared on MSNBC to discuss the Journal’s report with MSNBC’s highly partisan host Nicole Wallace, during which he suggested Musk may be handing “state secrets” to Putin. Vindman’s defamatory remarks went largely unreported at the time but resurfaced on X on Wednesday.
Vindman told Wallace, “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. We are under attack. Russia has been using different levers — whether that’s corruption networks, in this case, it’s influencers like Donald Trump, like Elon Musk, to really kind of sow discord.” [Putin began his KGB career as a case agent.]
Vindman finds this very disturbing because “Elon Musk has access to state secrets. He has top-secret security clearance.”
He continued:
It’s possible that some of that is seeping through. Putin has been very effective in playing both Trump and Elon. And he’s been using the richest man in the world to do his bidding. In some cases, that’s encouraging him probably to support Donald Trump.
That’s not speculation. We see how far in Elon has gone. And then using Twitter as a disinformation platform.
Vindman added that he sees this as a national security threat and that Putin is using both Trump and Musk as useful idiots.
Vindman is on the payroll of Ukrainian oligarchs and has committed treason against the United States, for which he will pay the appropriate penalty
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2024
Alexander Vindman tells MSNBC that Elon Musk might be giving “state secrets” to Vladimir Putin, and that his support for Trump comes at Putin’s behest.
Please sue this scumbag @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/2AEboXyVJd
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) November 27, 2024
First, it should be noted that Musk did not endorse Trump until July 13, 2024, the date of the first assassination attempt, long after he began “regular contact” with Putin.
Second, in his capacity as one of the world’s most influential businessmen, Musk has likely been in regular contact with many world leaders since 2022.
But perhaps the most important thing to remember is that, similar to his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee five years ago, Vindman’s remarks amount to pure speculation. He provides no evidence for his bombshell statements. His analytical mind thinks in terms of possibilities rather than proven facts.
The retired lieutenant colonel gave himself away by telling Wallace that Musk is using Twitter as a “disinformation platform.” Although this remark was music to Wallace’s ears, it is simply not true. Democrats label anything they disagree with as “disinformation” or “misinformation.”
Vindman is trying to resurrect the Trump/Russia collusion scandal which was fully debunked five years ago following a lengthy special counsel investigation and now he’s adding Elon Musk to the storyline. He is playing with fire.
Upon hearing about Vindman’s remarks on Wednesday, Elon Musk fired back on X: “Vindman is on the payroll of Ukrainian oligarchs and has committed treason against the United States, for which he will pay the appropriate penalty.”
I have no earthly idea if Musk’s claims are true or not. But his response shows that he will not tolerate baseless accusations. Nor will he hesitate to fight back.
Vindman is on the payroll of Ukrainian oligarchs and has committed treason against the United States, for which he will pay the appropriate penalty
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2024
Vindman responded: “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? … ” Um, didn’t Vindman just make false and completely unfounded accusations about Musk on national television without providing any specifics or am I thinking of something else?
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… https://t.co/E2ieupoiRf
— Alexander S. Vindman 🇺🇸 (@AVindman) November 27, 2024
At any rate, this story was widely reported on Wednesday night. But oddly, most of the legacy media reports begin with Musk accusing Vindman of being on the payroll of Ukrainian oligarchs and committing treason against the U.S. Strange, huh?
Elizabeth writes commentary for The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Editorial Board at The Sixteenth Council, a London think tank. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
This would be the same Elon Musk who provided free Starlink terminals and service to the Ukraine? The same one who destroyed Russia’s business of satellite launches?
Vindman should realize Musk’s clearance is primarily because he builds ICBMs.
Oh, look who just opened himself up to a libel claim! Because he can prove these charges, right? Oh sure!
Perfect case to revisit NY Times vs. Sullivan.
And Vindman did brag that the Ukranians wanted him to be their Minister of Defense.
No libel case here, even without Sullivan. Even if Musk were a private person, what Vindman said about him was a conclusion based on given facts, and therefore an opinion rather than a factual statement.
Normally if you give an extreme conclusion about someone, a reasonable person will conclude that you must surely be in possession of facts that support such a conclusion. Therefore, although your target can’t sue you for the conclusion itself, he can sue you for those implied facts.
But if you explicitly lays out the facts on which your conclusion is based, and they are plainly insufficient to support your conclusion, a reasonable person will not assume that you disclosed only the inconsequential evidence and forgot to mention the solid evidence. He will instead assume that this is essentially all you have, and on that basis he will either accept your conclusion or reject it. So your target can’t sue you.
E.g. suppose I were to claim that my neighbor John Smith is secretly a serial killer, people would assume I must have some evidence for this. I must know facts that show this to be true. So he could sue me, not for what I said but for what I implied. But if I were to say John Smith is a serial killer and I know this to be true because I saw it in the Tarot cards, then he can’t sue me any more. By disclosing my “evidence” I am no longer implying that I have real evidence. People will correctly conclude, not that I have factual evidence that he’s a killer, but that I’m a kook. So all that’s left to sue me for is my statement itself, and that’s an opinion, not a factual allegation.
Justice Millhouse has spoken 😂😂
Lucky you ain’t a boar with all those holes in your argument 😂
If only Vindman had not shown where he is coming from. A pompous pretend savior, a hater tearing down democracy to save it. He should be in jail for sedition and put on a diet.
He would probably gain weight in prison.
Not if they feed him what he deserves, bread & water.
Is this the Vindman that gave Ukraine Starlink access for free?
Oh, wait, that was Elon Musk.
Vindman hasn’t gotten the memo yet that this country is in a different place than it was when he first tried to bring down a sitting President.
Project 2025 will require Vindman and Schiff be deported to Ukraine.
Now that Schiff-for-brains is in the Senate, Vindman is vying to be the replacement Schiff-for-brains in the House. In that manner he has rgb gesurrected the Russian hoax, so hè can beat a dead horse..
Of course Vindman hasn’t committed treason. Musk knows that, and knows that any reasonable person will understand that he’s not seriously accusing him of it, he’s just throwing the same kind of garbage that Vindman threw at him. And he knows that Vindman can’t sue him, just as he can’t sue Vindman.
It’s like when people accuse Ted Cruz of being the Zodiac killer. It’s completely obvious that he’s not, so it’s just a joke. Which Cruz has embraced and made his own. There’s no fun in accusing him of it when he openly “acknowledges” it.
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