Alexander Vindman Pens Scorching Op-Ed Accusing Right-Wing Media of ‘Defamation Campaign,’ Calls for Lawsuits to ‘Deradicalize’ Outlets

Alexander Vindman, the Army Lt. Col. who testified in the first impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, has written an op-ed suggesting that defamation lawsuits may be a way “dismantle the right-wing ecosystem of disinformation.”

“There are ways to dismantle the right-wing ecosystem of disinformation, an ecosystem that does not begin with insurrection but with more mundane lies,” Vindman wrote Monday on Lawfare. “Like the many political elites driving insurrection to advance their political aims, the right-wing media is also motivated by a bottom-line calculation: viewers, market share and advertising dollars.”

Vindman wrote he was targeted after his November 2019 testimony about a July phone call between Trump and Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Trump appeared to condition U.S. support for Ukraine on an investigation into Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, and their alleged activities in the country. In his testimony, Vindman said he was “concerned” by the call.

“After I testified about then-President Trump’s misconduct on Ukraine before the House impeachment inquiry, Trump and his allies targeted me and my family for retribution,” Vindman wrote in the op-ed. “He questioned my loyalty. He tweeted threats. He suggested to his loyalists that action should be taken against me – a career federal government employee. Trump proxies amplified these themes on television news, internet news, and social media, resulting in risks to my life and my reputation as a public servant.”

“I’m afraid I did not respond forcefully to the threats and defamation,” Vindman continued. “While the former president was likely immune from civil suit, I should have sued those who amplified his campaign of defamation. Holding those who defamed me accountable could have deterred further attacks against me and subsequent targets.”

Vindman said he has “been the target of a comprehensive defamation campaign by right-wing media outlets and their pundits.” He cites multiple examples, including John Yoo, who said on Laura Ingraham‘s Fox News show that Vindman may have committed “espionage” (Yoo later denied that he was talking about Vindman specifically). Vindman said the Gateway Pundit picked up Yoo’s statement as a “good point and worth discussing,” and added that right-wing platforms like American Greatness and The Federalist, as well as Republican lawmakers, also amplified the “same malicious falsehoods.”

In his op-ed, Vindman acknowledged that the First Amendment “gravely limits the available tools to seek accountability for the right-wing media.” Vindman then proposes that defamation lawsuits could be one way to hold media companies accountable.

“By design, defamation law makes intentional, malicious lying an expensive habit, but this works only if people are willing to bring civil cases against the peddlers of disinformation.”

Vindman points to recent lawsuits as examples, including the lawsuit brought by the family of Seth Rich against Fox News, and lawsuits brought by voting machine companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic against Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, and Fox News, along with hosts Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Piro, and now-former host Lou Dobbs) over baseless claims of election fraud (Fox and the hosts have responded with motions to dismiss). The Dominion and Smartmatic lawsuits, Vindman said, “represent vital first steps toward reining in malicious lies and reestablishing the foundations of truth.”

Vindman also said that right-wing media also should be held accountable for its role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. “The mob that attacked the Capitol was born of hatred fomented by the right-wing media,” Vindman wrote. “These insurrectionists were raised for years on a steady diet of disinformation and half-truths, which produced the fertile fields for radicalization.

Months after Vindman testified, he was removed from his position on the National Security Council (and, along with his brother Yevgeny Vindman, escorted off the White House Grounds), and in July, he retired.

Vindman is not alone in calling for right-wing media and media platforms to be held accountable for what some see is the role they played in the Jan. 6 insurrection. In February, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on “Disinformation and Extremism in the Media.”