Accusing Vindman of Divided Loyalties Makes No Sense

A host of commentators who support President Donald Trump have suggested that Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a Ukraine expert on the National Security Council staff who has become a key witness in the impeachment proceedings, has split loyalties to the U.S. and Ukraine. It’s true that Vindman was born in Ukraine. Yet this argument makes so little common sense that perhaps unpicking it can start a broader discussion about the lingering suspicion of all immigrants as potentially disloyal citizens.

Vindman testified Tuesday that he’d been concerned about Trump’s insistence that Ukraine investigate the work of Hunter Biden, son of Democratic presidential contender Joseph Biden, while serving on the board of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma. He also said the company’s name came up in Trump’s conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in July but didn’t appear in the rough transcript of that call that was released by the White House; nor did some other details he recalled.