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Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) is a colonel in the Army reserve and a physician who served as a combat surgeon in Iraq. When GOP members and staff were shot at during a baseball practice by a far-left attacker aiming to take them out, Wenstrup helped to save the life of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) by providing emergency medical aid to him.
So maybe, just maybe, he has the bona fides to be able to effectively question and note a problem in the testimony of Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman without folks on the left who have hated the military for decades yelling “You’re attacking the military!”
Vindman’s testimony had already shown some problems. He claimed that he did not know who the whistleblower was. But then stopped and wouldn’t name the intelligence person he told about the July 25th phone call and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) interjected at the point to stop further questioning, saying it was necessary to “protect the whistleblower.” Obviously, that suggested that both knew the name of the whistleblower despite saying they didn’t.
But Wenstrup exposed another problem.
Vindman testified earlier that he was very “busy” and wasn’t able to speak to his superior, Tim Morrison, and then subsequently didn’t because after he spoke to the NSC counsel he was told not to speak to others.
As an officer in the military, I know the importance of following the chain of command. Today we saw what happens when the chain of command is ignored. pic.twitter.com/jfTfnjBS24
— Rep. Brad Wenstrup (@RepBradWenstrup) November 19, 2019
Wenstrup tried to follow up with Vindman, with Schiff interrupting, acting as though he was Vindman’s attorney at every point, not the objective arbiter he’s supposed to be. Wenstrup pointed out how Vindman didn’t follow the chain of command to report any concerns about the call.
But then when Wenstrup was questioning Morrison later in the day, Morrison testified that Vindman had actually spoken to him on the same day as the call, to speak about edits to the transcript of the call.
Lt. Col. Vindman testified earlier today that he didn’t take his concerns to Mr. Morrison because he wasn’t available, but that same day he took his edits to the transcript to Mr. Morrison. pic.twitter.com/HvmrlY0c7Z
— Brad Wenstrup (@RepBradWenstrup) November 20, 2019
That’s a huge discrepancy in Vindman’s testimony.
As Wenstrup indicates in his questioning of Morrison, it also calls into question Vindman’s claims that Trump demanded an investigation, because Vindman didn’t bring it up to Morrison or ask to include it as an edit in the transcript. And none of the other people support that claim.
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