Democrat Virginia Representative-elect Eugene Vindman has floated the idea of his twin brother suing Elon Musk for “defamation.”
Vindman was discussing Musk calling his brother, Alexander Vindman, a “traitor” during an MSNBC appearance on Saturday.
“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 wrote in a post 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
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2024
Musk was responding to a video of Alexander Vindman on MSNBC in which he accused the X owner of divulging state secrets to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also claimed that the tech billionaire’s real reason for supporting President-elect Donald Trump is that Putin ordered him to do so.
“Clearly [Russian President Vladimir] 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,” Alexander Vindman said. “Russia has been using different levers—whether that’s corruption networks, in this case, it’s influencers like Donald Trump, like Elon Musk, to kind of sow discord.”
When asked about the comments, Vindman said, “I would say that if anybody’s on the cusp of having to pay it may be Elon Musk because his comments are really false and defamatory, no basis in fact.”
Vindman then implied that his brother may be considering a defamation lawsuit.
“So I think he needs to dial back what he said. My brother served honorably in the Army, he’s fought and bled on battlefields for this country, and every statement that Elon Musk made is false. So, I think he needs to dial that back. Otherwise, he is the one in jeopardy of having to pay for defamation.”
JUST IN: Alex Vindman’s twin brother Eugene Vindman suggests a defamation lawsuit against Elon Musk may be coming after Musk accused Alex Vindman of treason.
The Ukrainian twins are fuming after Musk accused Alex of being “on the payroll of Ukrainian oligarchs.”
“I would say… pic.twitter.com/Eel4SATooH
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 30, 2024
Alexander Vindman had responded to Musk’s treason allegation last Wednesday, saying, “I served in the military for nearly 22 years and my loyalty is to supporting the U.S. Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. That’s why I reported presidential corruption when I witnessed an effort to steal an election. That report was in classified channels and when called by Congress to testify about presidential corruption I did so, as required by law,” referring to his involvement in Trump’s first impeachment.
“You, Elon, appear to believe you can act with impunity and are attempting to silence your critics. I’m not intimidated,” he added.
Newsweek reports, “Eugene Vindman played a role in reporting the July 2019 phone call between then-President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that was at the center of Trump’s first impeachment. When announcing his run for Congress, Vindman said he was doing so ‘to defend our nation against the clear and present danger of Donald Trump…’”
“Alexander Vindman’s testimony helped impeach Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in December 2019,” the report added. “The charges were in relation to a phone call between Trump and Zelensky in July of that year, in which Trump allegedly threatened to withhold U.S. foreign aid money until Zelensky promised to investigate now-President Joe Biden, who was a leading Democratic 2020 candidate at the time, and his son Hunter Biden. The Trump administration denied any ‘quid pro quo’ and in February 2020, the U.S. Senate acquitted Trump on both charges.”
