Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman's testimony pointed to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff as being "much more connected" with the whistleblower behind the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump than had been initially thought, Rep. Lee Zeldin claimed Wednesday.
"I think that what we saw play out yesterday, for example, is showing just how dishonest Adam Schiff has been throughout this process," the New York Republican told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "I know that there would be additional questions for the whistleblower if he could come in for a private deposition."
He noted that Vindman was asked to name the one person he spoke within the intelligence community about what he'd heard in the July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and "he said he spoke to two people" outside the National Security Council.
One of those was diplomat George Kent, said Zeldin, but Schiff stopped him from naming the other person, saying that would out the whistleblower. However, he added, Schiff says he does not know who the whistleblower is.
"I wish that we could be able to connect more dots by asking additional questions," said Zeldin. He also pointed out that during the closed-door depositions, there was a rule "just for" Vindman, and that was that questions about the intelligence community were prohibited.
"Adam Schiff was coaching Col. Vindman during that testimony more than he was coaching any other witness," said Zeldin. "What happened, the July 25 call takes place. Lt. Col. Vindman speaks to his identical twin brother Eugene. They hatch this scheme. They go to an attorney at the NSC. Vindman speaks to this person in the Intel community, who appears to be the whistleblower. That individual goes to Adam Schiff and his team before the whistleblower becomes a whistleblower."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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