Law professor and former DOJ attorney John Yoo told Laura Ingraham on her Fox News program Monday that he is “astounded” by the circumstances surrounding an NSC official, and said that “some might call that espionage” when told of the official’s own work with the Ukrainian government while he was also working in the White House.

According to a draft of his statement released to the media, an official on the National Security Council, Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman, will testify Tuesday in the House impeachment inquiry by Democrats that he voiced his concerns with a White House attorney about President Trump’s July 25 phone call with the Ukrainian president.

Liberal media outlets have framed Vindman’s testimony in the ongoing closed-door inquiry as “damaging,” but the Fox News panel – that also included Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz – were dismissive about Vindman’s “concerns.”

They also discussed Vindman’s reported eyebrow-raising involvement with Ukraine as an adviser.

Ingraham told her guests, “Fox News has confirmed that a White House national security official–his name is Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman–and he’s going to tell impeachment investigators tomorrow, in a statement that has been distributed to some media outlets that he twice reported objections over Trump’s call with Ukraine. But get this … this is buried in the New York Times piece tonight, but I found it very interesting. He’s a decorated colonel, by the way, in the Iraq war. Because Col. Lindman immigrated from Ukraine along with his family when he was a child and is fluent in Ukrainian and Russian, Ukrainian officials sought advice from him about how to deal with Mr. Giuliani though they typically communicated in English.”

“Now, wait a second–John,” Ingraham continued as she couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head. “Here we have a U.S. national security official who is advising Ukraine while working inside the White House, apparently against the president’s interest. And usually, they spoke in English. Isn’t that kind of an interesting angle on this story?”

“I find that astounding,” Yoo admitted. “Some people might call that espionage.

“But it doesn’t actually seem to add any new facts to what we know,” he continued. “In terms of–I think Alan [Dershowitz] raises a good point. This is a high crime and misdemeanor. Whether you have one person or five people all saying, ‘Well, we objected to what the president said with the president of Ukraine’–we have a transcript of the call. We can all make our judgment. I don’t see how this breaking news actually adds more facts to what we know about whether this is an impeachable offense or not. That’s something that I think the American people should decide rather than just the House. And that should be decided in the next election.”



“I think that the White House has to add to its team some constitutional specialists, people like John, who can make it clear,” Dershowitz said.

He went on to say: “To make it clear that there is a difference between sin which is a reason promoting against somebody, crime which might be reason for prosecuting somebody, and high crime which is an impeachable offense. Unless we keep those distinctions clear, we are violating the Constitution. Congress is not above the law. They can’t make it up as they go along. Hamilton in ‘Federalist 65’ [entitled The Powers of the Senate] said a vote for impeachment should not be along partisan lines. It shouldn’t be who has the most votes in the House, and that’s what this vote is going to be–exactly along partisan lines.”

Opening Statement (IN FULL): Alexander Vindman: “I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. government’s support of Ukraine.”#ImpeachmentHearingshttps://t.co/au70BTEDfh — Sara A. Carter (@SaraCarterDC) October 29, 2019

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