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2020-02-09 Home Front: Politix
‘Appalling': Hillary Clinton rips Orange Man over ouster of LTC Sausage
[Washington Examiner] Hillary Clinton used Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman’s own words to condemn President Trump for reportedly planning to remove the Army lieutenant colonel who testified during impeachment from the National Security Council.

Vindman, 44, could be removed from his position as a Ukrainian expert who leads European affairs at the National Security Council as early as Friday. Although the reassignment has not been finalized, several people have criticized Trump for planning to remove Vindman. Clinton, 72, used Vindman’s opening remarks from his impeachment testimony to blast Trump.

"During his testimony about Trump’s crimes, Lt. Col. Vindman had a message for his father: 'You made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the Soviet Union. Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth.' It’s appalling that this administration may prove him wrong," Clinton wrote.

Vindman, whose family immigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union, was asked to testify in the House impeachment hearings because he had reported Trump’s July 25 phone call to his superiors in the National Security Council. He testified that the White House had pressured him to stay quiet about the phone call, which he felt was "improper."

In his public House testimony, Vindman described the fear his father had when he explained that he would be speaking out against Trump. He said, "In Russia, my act of expressing concern to the chain of command in an official and private channel would have severe personal and professional repercussions, and offering public testimony involving the president would surely cost me my life."

He continued, "I’m grateful to my father for his brave act of hope 40 years ago and for the privilege of being an American citizen and public servant where I can live free of fear for mine and my family’s safety. Dad, I’m sitting here today in the U.S. Capitol talking to our elected professionals. Talking to our elected professionals is proof that you made the right decision to leave the Soviet Union."
Posted by Besoeker 2020-02-09 06:56|| || Front Page|| [11144 views ]  Top

#1 yeah, it's not like he worked for the White House Travel Office!
Posted by Frank G 2020-02-09 07:10||   2020-02-09 07:10|| Front Page Top

#2 Clinton now likes military people, Russians? Interesting. Even more interesting is this bit on LTC Sausage's older brother Leonid:

Link to Leonid Vindman at TUNGSTEN CAPITAL
Posted by Besoeker 2020-02-09 07:11||   2020-02-09 07:11|| Front Page Top

#3 Leonid has had a few problems in the investment community:

A third brother Leonid Vindman, who reportedly was fined $1.3 billion when he worked for Unicredit for violating trading sanctions by trafficking nuclear energy materials to Libya and Iran, runs Tungsten Capital an investment firm with ties to former Soviet satellite countries.

Link to the para above at Gray's Economy found here.
Posted by Besoeker 2020-02-09 07:20||   2020-02-09 07:20|| Front Page Top

#4 About that $1.3 billion UniCredit fine:

The long-running investigation by US authorities has hung over the bank since 2012. The criminal and regulatory penalties announced on Monday related to alleged violations of US sanctions targeting Iran, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Cuba and Burma.

UniCredit Bank AG, the German subsidiary operating as HypoVereinsbank, “knowingly and willfully” routed illegal payments that violated Iran sanctions from 2002 to 2011, according to the Department of Justice.

The entity went to “great lengths” to help Iran’s national shipping company, Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, evade sanctions, said Brian Benczkowski, chief of the criminal division at the justice department.

“The integrity of our financial system requires financial institutions to comply with our laws, and [HypoVereinsbank] willfully failed to do so,” he said in a statement.

The $1.3bn payment will resolve investigations by the justice department, the US Treasury, Federal Reserve, Manhattan district attorney’s office and the New York Department of Financial Services.


Emphasis added in first para. Yes, the Obama years. Nothing concluded until well into the Orange Man's tour of duty. Yes, something to do with violations of Iranian sanctions.

Link to Financial Times 15 Apr 2019 article on UniCredit found here.
Posted by Besoeker 2020-02-09 07:40||   2020-02-09 07:40|| Front Page Top

#5 Read the elder Vindman’s bio for the first time. I’d read a few weeks ago that he was a banker. I thought it would be some low to midlife Eastern European background. Wrong! He’s a Dartmouth grad Bankers Trust alum working a sketchy neighborhood. The CIA is strong in this one. Could explain how the twins could hold down NSC jobs while having a family member who could directly trade on inside and classified information.
Posted by Classical_Liberal 2020-02-09 08:01||   2020-02-09 08:01|| Front Page Top

#6 /\ Yes, all was moving along splendidly until the Orange Man arrived at the Oval Office. Probably just a coincidence, but yes, there is a link btwn Burisma and UniCredit.

VP’s Son Hunter Biden Joins Ukraine Gas Corporation
Posted by Besoeker 2020-02-09 08:13||   2020-02-09 08:13|| Front Page Top

#7 Nobody gives a crap about the DNC anymore, that is why a communist like Sanders is more popular than establishment Democrats.
Posted by Goober Tingle7365 2020-02-09 08:36||   2020-02-09 08:36|| Front Page Top

#8 Corruption hidden in plain sight.

Whether UniCredit was the particular vehicle that enabled John Kerry's Iranian pals (including his Foreign Minister counterpart and his circle) to evade US sanctions is not yet known.

But it would have been a superb vehicle for doing so: plausible deniability, multiple non-US hops for the money, and best of all, the near-total opacity of Ukrainian financial vehicles operating with the help of the most corrupt government and business elite north of the equator.

What did Zero know and when did he know it?
Posted by Lex 2020-02-09 09:34||   2020-02-09 09:34|| Front Page Top

#9 Three thoughts
Pelousy called that little fat ass in dress blues a war hero. Looking at pictures of that clown I didn’t see anything but those REMF ribbons given to staffers horse holders and brief case carriers
I certainly home he gets passed over for full bird colonel and he remains a telephone colonel the rest of his pencil sharpening career
Lastly how many of these holdovers were detailed to the White House shortly before the Trumpster took office?
Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom  2020-02-09 09:43||   2020-02-09 09:43|| Front Page Top

#10 Lt.Col. Vindman may not like his new assignment, but I'm pretty sure he's not going to commit suicide. It's much safer to be an enemy of OrangeManBad than to be an enemy of one former secretary of state I can think of.
Posted by Matt 2020-02-09 09:56||   2020-02-09 09:56|| Front Page Top

#11 I mean, a world where every other apparatchik isn't the Manchurian F'n Candidate. Who the Hell wants to live in a world like that?
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-02-09 10:52||   2020-02-09 10:52|| Front Page Top

#12 You mean Vindman's last OER didn't say "promote to O6 immediately"?
Posted by DooDahMan 2020-02-09 11:19||   2020-02-09 11:19|| Front Page Top

#13 WTF does anyone care what this criminal/traitor says. Toss her on the garbage heap of history after the justice system deals with her and move on.
Posted by JohnQC 2020-02-09 11:39||   2020-02-09 11:39|| Front Page Top

#14 LTC Sausage hasn't had an actual 'Army' assignment in years. As I have opined previously he was likely Sheep Dipped a long time ago.

Ref #12: I'm sure Sausage's OER's were classified, recommended he be 'promoted' and are resting comfortably in Special Management Branch vaults in dasr status. Getting promoted and serving the requisite 3 years time in grade (TIG) to retire as an O6... might be a bridge too far. Not impossible however.
Posted by Besoeker 2020-02-09 11:41||   2020-02-09 11:41|| Front Page Top

#15 She continued with: "Why not just have him commit suicide? Sloppy!"
Posted by Iblis 2020-02-09 12:22||   2020-02-09 12:22|| Front Page Top

#16 Just happened to come across this little item on today's Bongino Report:

Obama's Military Coup Purges 197 Officers In Five Years
Posted by Abu Uluque 2020-02-09 14:36||   2020-02-09 14:36|| Front Page Top

#17 We're definitely not talking about Truman cashiering MacArthur here.
Posted by M. Murcek 2020-02-09 16:37||   2020-02-09 16:37|| Front Page Top

#18 ^^^^ I would vote on that being snark of the day
Posted by Chris 2020-02-09 19:37||   2020-02-09 19:37|| Front Page Top

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