U.S. Representative-elect Eugene Vindman, a Virginia Democrat, floated the idea of a defamation lawsuit against Elon Musk on MSNBC on Saturday after the tech billionaire called his twin brother a traitor.
On Wednesday, Musk—who President-elect Donald Trump tapped to lead a proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with biotech entrepreneur and ex-Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy—suggested retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, who testified against Trump at his first impeachment in 2019 during his first presidency "committed treason" after remarks he made in an October MSNBC interview about Musk circulated online this week.
"Vindman is on the payroll of Ukrainian oligarchs and has committed treason against the United States, for which he will pay the appropriate penalty," Musk wrote on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Treason is a federal crime and Article III Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution says "[t]reason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."
Alexander Vindman, who worked as a top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council (NSC) before Trump fired him after he testified against the then-president, has denied Musk's claims, calling them "false and completely unfounded" in an X post on Wednesday.
When asked about Musk's recent comments on MSNBC's The Weekend on Saturday morning, Eugene Vindman, who will begin his first term in Congress in January, said, "I would say that if anybody's on the cusp of having to pay it may be Elon Musk because his comments are really false and defamatory, no basis in fact."
He added: "So I think he needs to dial back what he said. My brother served honorably in the Army, he's fought and bled on battlefields for this country, and every statement that Elon Musk made is false. So, I think he needs to dial that back. Otherwise, he is the one in jeopardy of having to pay for defamation."
Eugene Vindman played a role in reporting the July 2019 phone call between then-President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that was at the center of Trump's first impeachment. When announcing his run for Congress, Vindman said he was doing so "to defend our nation against the clear and present danger of Donald Trump..."
Newsweek reached out to Eugene Vindman's campaign and a representative for Alexander Vindman via email for comment, as well as X via email for comment from Musk late Saturday morning.
What Did Alexander Vindman Say About Elon Musk?
As this year's presidential race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, winded down, Alexander Vindman told MSNBC in October that Russia was using people like Trump to "sow discord."
"Clearly [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has a type. He likes narcissists and egomaniacs that he knows as a case officer can easily pander to manipulate, to do his dirty work," Alexander Vindman said. "Russia has been using different levers—whether that's corruption networks, in this case, it's influencers like Donald Trump, like Elon Musk, to kind of sow discord."
The Wall Street Journal reported in October that Musk has been in regular contact with Putin since late 2022. Their discussions allegedly covered personal topics, business interests, and geopolitical issues, occasionally involving high-ranking Russian officials like Sergei Kiriyenko, Putin's first deputy chief of staff.
Musk didn't respond to the Journal's requests for comment on the story, but he did respond to the story on X, writing in one post late last month, "Welp, the Swamp's 'Trump is Hitler' didn't work. Might as well give 'Elon is a Russian agent' a whirl."
Meanwhile, Trump has reportedly spoken with Putin as many as seven times since he left the White House in 2021, as recently as this year, according to legendary journalist Bob Woodward's latest book, War. Woodward's source for this reporting was an unnamed Trump aide.
Trump previously told ABC News that the reporting is "false," adding that Woodward is "a storyteller. A bad one. And he's lost his marbles."
Responding to Musk on Wednesday, Alexander Vindman said, "I served in the military for nearly 22 years and my loyalty is to supporting the U.S. Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. That's why I reported presidential corruption when I witnessed an effort to steal an election. That report was in classified channels and when called by Congress to testify about presidential corruption I did so, as required by law," referring to his involvement in Trump's first impeachment.
"You, Elon, appear to believe you can act with impunity and are attempting to silence your critics. I'm not intimidated," he added.
This isn't the first time Alexander Vindman and Musk have clashed. In 2022, the two engaged in a heated exchange on social media when Vindman called Musk a "purveyor of hate and division" in response to Musk labeling him a "puppet & puppeteer."
Meanwhile, Alexander Vindman's testimony helped impeach Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in December 2019. The charges were in relation to a phone call between Trump and Zelensky in July of that year, in which Trump allegedly threatened to withhold U.S. foreign aid money until Zelensky promised to investigate now-President Joe Biden, who was a leading Democratic 2020 candidate at the time, and his son Hunter Biden. The Trump administration denied any "quid pro quo" and in February 2020, the U.S. Senate acquitted Trump on both charges.
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