On Friday, seasoned political commentator Brit Hume took issue with Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman’s testimony regarding the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
According to Vindman, Trump’s call to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25 left him “deeply troubled” that the president was attempting to “subvert U.S. foreign policy,” The Washington Post reported:
He told lawmakers that he was deeply troubled by what he interpreted as an attempt by the president to subvert U.S. foreign policy and an improper attempt to coerce a foreign government into investigating a U.S. citizen.
Hume, reacting to the Post’s write-up on Twitter, highlighted that Vindman’s supposed fear is “illogical,” since it is the president who sets the U.S. foreign policy agenda.
“This from the article: ‘he was deeply troubled by what he interpreted as an attempt by the president to subvert U.S. foreign policy…’ There is a huge fallacy in this. Anyone know what it is?” Hume wrote.
Hume clarified the “huge fallacy” in a reply, explaining, “it’s the fact that the president is the constitutional author of foreign policy, so the idea he is ‘subverting’ it is illogical.”
This from the article: “he was deeply troubled by what he interpreted as an attempt by the president to subvert U.S. foreign policy…” There is a huge fallacy in this. Anyone know what it is? https://t.co/L1Jfgck6G2
— Brit Hume (@brithume) November 2, 2019
Actually, it’s the fact that the president is the constitutional author of foreign policy, so the idea he is “subverting” it is illogical.
— Brit Hume (@brithume) November 2, 2019
As highlighted by The Blaze, “the executive branch has the most significant role in crafting U.S. foreign policy, and because the president is the head of the executive branch, the president essentially determines the direction of U.S. foreign policy while in office.”
Vindman also testified that the call’s official record and rough transcript “included an inexplicable change,” the Post noted. Instead of including the word “Burisma,” Ukraine’s largest private gas company and the company that employed former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, the transcript included the phrase, “the company that you mentioned in this issue.”
The Post suggests that “Burisma” was intentionally left out of the transcript, but notes that “[s]ome argue that the transcribers simply misunderstood or missed the word but used a generic description” — that is, if the company name was actually said during the call.
Questions surrounding the Biden family’s relations with Ukraine first became a concern in 2014, when, according to NPR, Biden, then-vice president, began making trips to Ukraine in the spring, as his son took a position on the board of Burisma — thereby earning a reported $50,000 a month. “The question of a possible conflict of interest — with Hunter Biden profiting in a country where his father was actively working with the government — was raised publicly at the time,” the left-leaning outlet noted.
Moreover, in March 2016, “Biden made one of his many trips to Ukraine and told the country’s leaders that they had to get rid of the prosecutor” probing corruption “if they wanted $1 billion in U.S. aid,” NPR reported.
Biden openly bragged last year at the Council on Foreign Relations about wielding his influence to seemingly protect his son. “I said, ‘You’re not getting the [$1 billion]. I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.’ Well, son of a b****. He got fired,” he boasted.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing, referring to his late July phone call with Zelensky “perfect.”
“As President I have an obligation to end CORRUPTION, even if that means requesting the help of a foreign country or countries,” the president Tweeted earlier this month. “This has NOTHING to do with politics or a political campaign against the Bidens. This does have to do with their corruption!”
As President I have an obligation to end CORRUPTION, even if that means requesting the help of a foreign country or countries. It is done all the time. This has NOTHING to do with politics or a political campaign against the Bidens. This does have to do with their corruption!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2019