dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

>>7928963

>Vindman’s twin brother Yevgeny is also an Army lieutenant colonel rank who works in the White House as part of the National Security Council, according to the Times. He is a lawyer handling ethics issues, and his office is across from Vindman’s.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/29/us/politics/who-is-alexander-vindman.html

WASHINGTON — The twin brothers were 3 when they fled Ukraine, then a Soviet republic, with their father and grandmother, Jewish refugees with only their suitcases and $750, hoping for a better life in the United States.

In the 40 years since, the first-born twin, Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, has become a scholar, diplomat, decorated officer in the United States Army and Harvard-educated Ukraine expert on the White House’s National Security Council.

And on Tuesday, Colonel Vindman’s past and present converged as he became a star witness in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, which is centered on the president’s dealings with the colonel’s native Ukraine.

Ensconced in the secure hearing rooms of the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in a midnight-blue dress uniform, a bevy of ribbons pinned to his chest, Colonel Vindman testified privately from morning until night. He recounted for House investigators how he was so alarmed by the president’s request to enlist Ukraine to smear his political rivals, and similar efforts by Mr. Trump’s allies, that he reported them to his superiors — twice.

It was one of the more memorable turns in an inquiry that has been full of them. Colonel Vindman, who is fluent in Ukrainian, was the first White House official to testify who listened in on a July 25 call between Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. With his long résumé and military credentials, he immediately became a problem for Republicans.

Mr. Trump assailed him on Twitter, though not by name, branding him a “Never Trumper” without evidence. Conservative pundits and allies of the president questioned the colonel’s loyalty, insinuating he might be a spy for the country of his birth. But House Republicans, perhaps fearing a backlash, took pains to defend Colonel Vindman’s honor — even as they insisted he was wrong about Mr. Trump.

“He’s a veteran, a combat veteran and he needs our respect and appreciation,” said Representative Tim Burchett, a freshman Republican from Tennessee who participated in Tuesday’s closed-door hearing, echoing the statements of leadership. “But he also needs to be questioned.”

Inside the secure room, known as a SCIF, the atmosphere grew tense, as Republicans questioned Colonel Vindman about his private conversations in what Democrats viewed as an effort to discern the identity of the whistle-blower who prompted the inquiry. The colonel pushed back, participants said, making clear he was unwilling to share such information, especially when it involved members of the intelligence community.

But beyond the substance and the drama, Colonel Vindman offered a compelling immigrants’ tale and a glimpse into the story of twin brothers who have lived a singular American experience, one that was featured in a Ken Burns documentary when they were children. From their days as little boys in matching short pants and blue caps, toddling around the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn — known as Little Odessa for its population of refugees from the former Soviet Union — and into adulthood, they have followed strikingly similar paths.

Like Alexander Vindman, Yevgeny, who goes by Eugene, is a lieutenant colonel in the Army. He also serves on Mr. Trump’s National Security Council, as a lawyer handling ethics issues. During his testimony, Alexander Vindman referred to him as “my kid brother” — and insisted that lawmakers do the same, telling them with wry amusement that he was born six minutes earlier than Yevgeny was.

When Alexander Vindman decided to alert a White House lawyer to his concerns about Mr. Trump’s July telephone call with the Ukrainian president, he turned to his twin, bringing him along as he reported the conversation to John A. Eisenberg, the top National Security Council lawyer.

“He was very honorable, very believable, very precise with his remarks,” said Representative Stephen F. Lynch, Democrat of Massachusetts. “He seems to have followed every single procedural safeguard and has, as a lieutenant colonel, followed the chain of command in every respect.”

The twins both married women with Native American ancestry, live in the same Northern Virginia suburb, and have offices across from each other in the West Wing of the White House, according to Carol Kitman, a photographer who met the family when they were boys, chronicled their upbringing and remains a close family friend.