A crack...
Former WH COS John Kelly has backed the fired impeachment inquiry witness Alexander Vindman, launching a spirited defense of the former National Security Council official and criticizing the Trump administration across a range of issues.
theguardian.com/us-news/2020/f…
Former WH COS John Kelly has backed the fired impeachment inquiry witness Alexander Vindman, launching a spirited defense of the former National Security Council official and criticizing the Trump administration across a range of issues.
theguardian.com/us-news/2020/f…
“He did exactly what we teach them to do from cradle to grave,” Kelly said. “He went and told his boss what he just heard.”
“Through the Obama administration up until that phone call, the policy of the US was militarily to support Ukraine in their defensive fight against
“Through the Obama administration up until that phone call, the policy of the US was militarily to support Ukraine in their defensive fight against
… the Russians. And so, when the president said that continued support would be based on X, that essentially changed. And that’s what Vindman was most interested in.”
But when Vindman heard Trump tell his counterpart he wanted to see the Biden family investigated, he understood
But when Vindman heard Trump tell his counterpart he wanted to see the Biden family investigated, he understood
Vindman is blameless and was simply following the training he’d received as a soldier; migrants are “overwhelmingly good people” and “not all rapists”; and Trump’s decision to condition military aid to Ukr on an inv into his Joe Biden upended long-standing U.S. policy.
Vindman was rightly disturbed by Trump’s phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July, Kelly suggested: Having seen something “questionable,” Vindman properly notified his superiors, Kelly said.
Throughout the appearance, Kelly laid out his doubts about Trump’s policies. Trump has held two formal summits with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, hoping to scuttle the country’s nuclear program through personal diplomacy. Kelly said the effort was futile.
He will never give his nuclear weapons up,” Kelly said. “Again, Trump tried—that’s one way to put it. But it didn’t work. I’m an optimist most of the time but I’m also a realist and I never did think Kim would do anything other than play us for a while, and he did that
At times, Kelly sounded like the anti-Trump. He said he did not believe the press is “the enemy of the people,” for example. And he sharply criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Trump has steadfastly courted. Kelly described Putin as someone who is “not necessarily a
rational actor.” Putin sits atop “a society in collapse,” yet is intent on restoring “the glory days of the Soviet Union,” he said.
Kelly faulted Trump for intervening in the case of Eddie Gallagher. “The idea that the commander in chief intervened there, in my opinion, was
Kelly faulted Trump for intervening in the case of Eddie Gallagher. “The idea that the commander in chief intervened there, in my opinion, was
exactly the wrong thing to do,” Kelly said. “Had I been there, I think I could have prevented it.”
When a woman in the crowd said that Trump had “elevated” Gallagher, Kelly looked out at the crowd.
“Yep,” he said.
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When a woman in the crowd said that Trump had “elevated” Gallagher, Kelly looked out at the crowd.
“Yep,” he said.
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