John Yoo Denies Accusing Vindman of Espionage: Deliberate ‘Misconception’ of My Remarks

Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo says his words were misconstrued when he remarked that “some people” might say White House Ukraine expert and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman engaged in “espionage.”

Yoo drew considerable outrage on Monday night when he appeared on Laura Ingraham’s show and dismissed Vindman’s upcoming testimony against President Donald Trump’s infamous Ukraine phone call. The conversation gravitated around reporting that Vindman immigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine as a child, and was asked by Ukrainian officials about how to deal with Rudy Giuliani, who Vindman said was pushing a “false narrative.”

Here’s the operative portion of that discussion:

Ingraham: 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?

Yoo: I find that astounding. Some people might call that espionage.

Critics have slammed the segment by saying that it not only impugned Vindman by suggesting he has dueling loyalties between America and his birth country, but also Yoo defamed Vindman’s service record by implicitly accusing him of treason. In a statement to Washington Examiner, Yoo said the outrage is due to “a misconception of my remarks,” and insisted they weren’t directed at Vindman specifically.

“I did not accuse Lt. Col. Vindman of committing the crime of espionage. I have tremendous respect for a decorated officer of the U.S. Army and a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. What I was addressing was a report that Ukrainian officials had sought to contact Vindman for advice on how to handle Rudy Giuliani acting as a presidential envoy. I meant to say that this sounded like an espionage operation by the Ukrainians. I think it deliberately misconstrues my words to say that the separate issue of the phone call between the U.S. and Ukrainian president through the chain of command constitutes espionage by Vindman, or that Vindman is some kind of double agent.”

Watch above, via Fox News.